A ‘Grande Causa’: missionárias do planeamento familiar no mundo em descolonização

This article follows the work of three international fieldworkers who traveled abroad for the U.S.-based Pathfinder Fund in the 1950s and 1960s to distribute contraceptives, promote the formation of family planning clinics, and support local advocates. These actors situated their work within longer traditions of maternalist humanitarian and Christian missionary internationalism, while also portraying themselves as skilled inter-cultural interlocutors, cognizant of the changing winds prompted by decolonization movements. Still, their insistence on particular methods, reliance on stereotypes, and sometimes aggressive approach fueled tension and undermined their efforts at solidarity. The article thus illustrates some of the central contradictions of post-WWII humanitarianism and the broader entangling of missionary, maternalist, and family planning projects. This article is part of the special theme section on International Organizations in the Era of Decolonization, guest-edited by José Pedro Monteiro.