Insider-outsider positions during co-production

We are three female anthropologists collaborating in global health research. Across languages, cultures, and ethnicities, we are connected through our social engagement with, and our commitment to, the Brazilian communities where we conduct research. In this chapter, we share our reflections on a ‘COVID-19 Control Committee’ composed of Candomblé terreiros in the Brazilian city of Salvador (from here onwards referred to as the Committee). A terreiro is a religious space that serves as a space of inclusion for marginalised community members. We conceptualise this Committee as a site of co-production between researchers, public health specialists, and Candomblé members. Through the experiences of one of us (Clarice Mota), who is both a Candomblé member and has a public health specialist role, we reflect on our social commitments and on the hierarchal relationships between researchers and community members. How can collaboration between community members and researchers work at times of a public health crisis, which is also a political and social crisis?