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

BACKGROUND: 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. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: 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. DISCUSSION: 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. CONCLUSION: 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.