The life path of Irma Carrica: An approach to the political and health debates of the 1960s and 1970s using the biographical method

We reconstruct the life path of the Argentine nurse and popular activist Irma Carrica, understood as a political-professional experience tied to her social networks and marked by conflicts and contradictions inherent to her historical context. From this analytical perspective and considering the precautions suggested by the biographical method of social sciences, we delve into the political and health debates of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly concerning disputes over the meaning of “community” in the health field. Specifically, we focus on the contributions of a collective historical actor — heterogeneous and plural, yet identifiable in its various forms — that we have termed the Peronist Left in health. By analyzing their professional and intellectual networks, we emphasize the role played by Irma Carrica as a representative of this Peronist Left in health, in constructing alternative dynamics for community health approaches, which challenged the dominant epistemological and pedagogical paradigms.