essay
'All the good and bad in this world': Women, traditional medicine, and Mexican American culture
Twice a minority : Mexican American women • St. Louis, Missouri • Published In 1980 • Pages: 127-148
By: Macklin, June.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article examines the relation between the role of women and traditional or folk medicine in Mexican American culture. Although several aspects of Mexican American folk medicine are discussed in this study, major emphasis in on the role of women as healers or CURANDERAS, and their relationship to the spiritist/spiritualist mediums. Macklin writes that 'as a healer, a woman epitomizes all of the good associated with femininity: she is knowledgeable, self-sacrificing, nurturant, caring, submissive yet protecting, loyal, chaste, and close to divine power; but the same arcane knowledge and ability to traffic with spirits suggest all that is dark, mysterious, and bad in the power of being a female' (p. 127). As an example of a particularly successful CURANDERA the author presents biographical data on Mrs. Lila G.-- how she became a healer, her relationship to the spirit world (especially the spirit of El Niño Fidencio, who was her primary spirit helper in curing), and general notes on her methods of curing.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Life history materials
- Shamans and psychotherapists
- Spirits and gods
- Ecstatic religious practices
- Magicians and diviners
- Gender roles and issues
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Chicanos
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Social Scientist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- June Macklin
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-148)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 80011177
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Mexican Americans