Curanderismo: A Phenomenological Methodological Study

This study focused on what the Mexican American feel about taking care of their elders at home and the affects it has on them. Also, the aim for this study was to gather information about the culture of this group so it can be used instrument to help this particular group. This was a quantitative study. In this study many different methods were used to gather their information. 193

A curandero is a Mexican-American folk healer that heals physical, mental, and spiritual illnesses. The folk healer uses prayer, faith, and herbal remedies to heal. People associate repeated healing with healthy relationships between people, culture, and the environment. Mora and Anaya portray the curandera in different and similar ways. The literary works consist of common characteristics and qualities that the curanderos possess irrespective of the different genders. In both poems, the curanderos are knowledgeable. Besides, they have a close connection with nature, and the people from their towns respect them greatly.

One of the largest Hispanic-origin population in the United states are Mexicans (Gonzales-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). Mexican American’s are considered minorities in the United States. There are many reason why I am choosing to explore Mexican Americans for this paper. As a minority myself, I can relate to some of the struggles that Mexican American’s may face. However, there are some things that I will never relate to or know the personal aspect of the Mexican culture. Just like any other population, Mexican Americans have their own culture, values, and challenges.

A curandero is a Mexican-American folk healer that heals physical, mental, and spiritual illnesses. The folk healer uses prayer, faith, and herbal remedies to heal. People associate repeated healing with healthy relationships between people, culture, and the environment. In the poem, “Curandera”, by Pat Mora and the novel, “Bless Me, Ultima”, by Rudolfo Anaya portray the curandera in different and similar ways. The literary works consist of common characteristics and qualities that the curanderos possess irrespective of the different genders. In both poems, the curanderos are knowledgeable. Besides, they have a close connection with nature, and the people from their towns respect them greatly.

Once again I am always fascinated to learn more about my culture and how it links in with sociology. in chapter 12 we learn about different kinds of healers or doctors. What intrigued me was learning more about curanderos and how they get the recognized as curanderos. I want to concentrate on the background of a curandero and how it affects certain societies. Although I have never been to a curandero, my parents and grandparents have used them before. Therefore, I will also briefly talk about how different generation use different “doctors” for medical care.

In this Ethnographic paper, I will be interviewing and discussing the differences between my culture and that of another. My culture consists of two-parts, one being Puerto Rican and the other being Caucasian. I will be interviewing my best friend’s mother Cristina Carlesso Dager, who is from Venezuela. South American culture consists of many influences due to the arrival of the Europeans; Europeans cultures brought a mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and French creating what we know today as Latin America. This paper will highlight key topics discussed in class like kinship, political and social organization, food, clothing, religion, etc. From this interview, I want to gain a new-found knowledge of what is like to be from a different culture then my own. I will interview Mrs. Dager with no bias and will cover every subject to my capability. I am interested in discovering the differences between our cultures, so that I can be aware of this diverse world that I live in.

At one time, the quinceañera was reserved for the upper class, but in the last fifty years this privilege has been extended to all classes of people who come from numerous descents of the Hispanic culture. This assimilation in the United States is further proof of “the browning of America” mentioned in the book, “Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures” (Lustig & Koester, 2010, p. 5). With traditions as old as this it is easy to understand the pride that the Hispanic culture has.

In the qualitative study authored by Britigan et al, the independent variable is the ethnicity of the subject with a specific focus on a Latino sample population. The dependent variable in the study was the acculturation of interview subjects. Subordinate dependent variables included the health information sources used by Latinos in southwest

This is a narrative of one Mexican American woman’s experiences and her views on the importance of passing down the cultural beliefs of her ancestors. In the section of the country in which I live there is a large population within the community of Mexican American culture. Although I have frequent contact with people of Mexican American heritage either through employment or interaction out in the community, I have a limited understanding of their culture. For this reason, I chose to learn more about the population of people I have frequent contact with and as a professional work with as clients in the field of mental health counseling. The quest of finding someone knowledgeable to discuss the population, their cultural

Spirituality is defined as “of relating to sacred matters”. To many people this has different meanings. In the traditional modernistic western, this can be defined as being sacred to Christianity. In the Christian approach one is believed to be spiritual if they attend church and pray to Jesus and abide by the rules set by the bible. It is a sin to go against the bible and doing so leads to a consequence of praying for forgiveness to Jesus in hope for your eternal salvation of your soul. But to many, this type of church does not exist. To native-Americans, spirituality is defined as something more powerful than the church, stories and rituals is what takes part in fighting

The first weakness corresponds directly with one of the strengths and it is that the study is not generalizable. Because the study by Youngwanichsetha & Phumdoung (2014) had such homogeneity in its sample and specifically looked at Thai Buddhist and Thai Muslims, its findings therefore could not be generalized to other populations. The second weakness being discussed is the adequacy of the sample size. The study itself contained 118 mother-baby pairs. In order to determine adequacy of a sample size, a power analysis is calculated (Grove et al., 2015). The researchers did not complete a power analysis to determine the appropriate size; therefore it is unknown what would be a statistically significant sample. This allows for the possibility that the resulting relationship witnessed by the researchers could have been a result of mere chance. Additionally, the authors did not specifically identify any limitations within their study. Some of the evident limitations, other than those weaknesses discussed prior, are that there could be potential bias and the consistency of the procedure/protocol is questionable. Since the sample was a convenience sample, it does not guarantee unbiased results. Also, the procedure/protocol is questionable because the procedure was not thoroughly discussed in the research article thus, it could not be stated whether the protocol was carried out in a consistent

As discussed with doctor Dr. Nydeggar, “syndemic framework” is the interaction of various factors that influence a certain aspect of an individual’s life, in this case public health. Often, the interaction of sociocultural and environmental elements of an individual’s life function as a unit, a syndemic framework, to influence that person’s health. One of the groups that is highly influenced by this framework are Hispanic women. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, researchers have identified the increased risk of violence, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior as well as mental health problems Hispanic women are in comparison to non-Hispanic women (Gonzalez et al. 2012). Through the establishment of programs providing

“Spirituality is derived from the Latin word spiritus, spirit, the essential part of the person which controls the mind and the mind controls the body. Thus the spirit is the vital life force which motivate people and influence ones life, health behavior and relationships” (Baldacchino & Draper, 2001). She also stated that spirituality is the mainstream of life which unifies all aspects of the human being. Spirituality applies to both believers and non believers, including the presence of diverse cultural beliefs (Baldacchino & Draper, 2001). Culliford stated that : “In times of emotional stress, physical illness, loss, bereavement and death human beings tend to find comfort, peace, inspiration, reverence and meaning by focusing on their spirituality whether they believe in God or not” (Culliford, 2002). In a study conducted by Tuck and Thingajana the meaning of spirituality was voiced by person living with HIV disease and healthy adults. The definitions voiced by the HIV patients were that “Spirituality is relating and believing in God, who is always present. It is perceived as being guided or helped or being inspired or giving unto. Spirituality includes the process of journeying, discovering and centering and is outwardly expressed” (Tuck & Thinganjana, 2007). The definitions of Spirituality expressed by the healthy individuals were that:

The first strength of this study was the way that the researchers went about choosing the individuals they wanted to study. The researchers chose schools from three separate populations of South Korean in the attempt to gather data that could be better representative of the entire population of South Korea.

What is spirituality? Everyone has it however not all understand what it is exactly. Individuals can experience and express spiritually differently. It can be confused with religion or ghosts (Lepherd, 2015). For many years, there have been many definitions and descriptions of spirituality; it is described as the search of the meaning of life, alleviation of suffering, or creating inner peace in an individual. Which explains how spirituality is made useful for meditation and practicing yoga. Each person’s spirituality is different from others because according to his article, ‘Spirituality: Everyone has it, but what is it,’ Laurence Lepherd (2015) explains, “People have [different levels] of depth or intensity of spirituality, from [person to person].”