Body maps of counter-hegemonic midwifery practices in Chile: a collective case study

Global efforts to improve maternal and newborn outcomes increasingly promote respectful, person-centered, and midwife-led models of care. However, their implementation continues to face structural barriers rooted in biomedical paradigms, professional hierarchies, and institutional forms of violence. In Chile, some midwives have developed counter-hegemonic practices that challenge these barriers while strengthening professional leadership and transformative approaches to care. This study explores how such practices contribute to leadership development and care transformation.

A qualitative collective case study grounded in feminist decolonial epistemologies was conducted. Three Chilean midwives participated in a body mapping process, a participatory and reflexive method used to document professional trajectories, lived experiences, and territorial belonging. Data were analyzed through visual interpretation and collective reflection.

Three interrelated processes were identified: critical reflection on biomedical and institutional norms, including experiences of obstetric violence; recovery and validation of community-based and alternative knowledges; and recognition of territory and lived experience as central to respectful and person-centered care. These processes strengthened professional agency and supported the development of situated and socially accountable models of care.

Counter-hegemonic midwifery practices function as professional and political forms of leadership that challenge dominant paradigms while promoting collective learning and transformation within health systems.

The experiences of these Chilean midwives highlight how leadership, professional identity, and transformative care practices can emerge through situated, experiential, and community-based forms of knowledge, contributing to current discussions on midwifery education and leadership.