They All Want Magic: Curanderas and Folk Healing (Volume 16)

Rio Grande/Río Bravo: Borderlands Culture and Traditions

by Elizabeth de la Portilla

Curanderas - traditional healers in Mexican culture - bridge the gaps between multiple planes of existence - spiritual and material, modern and pre-modern - dispensing medicinal herbs, prayers, and instruction. Elizabeth de la Portilla writes of the world and practices of San Antonio curanderas. As a scholar, an ethnographer, and a curandera in training, her parallel perspectives uniquely aid readers in understanding this subordinated culture. Retelling the stories various healers have shared, interpreting their answers to her probing questions, and describing the herbs and recipes they use in their arts, the author vividly illuminates the borderland context of San Antonio. Scholars and readers of anthropology, sociology, Chicana and Chicano studies, and women's studies will savor the many layers of meaning and application in "They All Want Magic".

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2009

Reviews

[Sean Mccarrey]

This book contains an interesting and fascinating look at the work of curandero/as in San Antonio and the South Texas region. As a San Antonio resident, I am always thrilled to learn about such different perspectives than the relatively suburban one I grew up with.

[Gypsysoul_]

Sadly this book, although well written & full of first hand accounts, fell short of discussing the heart of what Curandero/as do, and the origins of the beliefs. For a text that was labeled "anthropology", it would have been better suited as a non-fiction account of the culture of the Borderlands, that included curanderas. It just left many questions unanswered, and at times seemed to be more defensive than anything.

[Alissa DeLaFuente]

This is a wonderful text about the practice of curanderismo