Culture of caring: black women shaping the Brazilian professional nursing

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze the exclusion of black women process from the origins of the Brazilian professional nursing. Based on the proposition of the anthropology of care, this study shows that black women cared sick people before the nursing professionalization in Brazil. Results of this process have created a professional identity for Brazilian nursing essentially characterized by white woman, daughter of elite. A reflection allows us to suppose that black representations in Brazil have reiterated stereotypes that has prevented from inclusion of blacks into modern nursing, while the black representation within Brazil has projected black women as morally disqualified, characterizing them as inappropriate for practicing the art and science of caring.

Keywords

• Historia de la enfermería
• Mujeres negras
• Identidad profesional