UNM Curanderismo Program Back for 12th Year - UNM Today | The University of New Mexico

UNM Curanderismo Program Back for 12th Year - UNM Today | The University of New Mexico

June 27, 2012 | By Carolyn Gonzales

The pop­u­lar sum­mer course, “Tra­di­tional Med­i­cine with­out Bor­ders: Curan­derismo in the South­west and Mex­ico,” takes place at the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico from July 16–27. Dr. Eliseo “Cheo” Tor­res, UNM vice pres­i­dent for Stu­dent Affairs and pro­fes­sor of Lan­guage, Lit­er­acy, and Socio­cul­tural Stud­ies hosts the course in con­junc­tion with the UNM Women’s Resource Center.
This sum­mer class, now in its 12th year, is an oppor­tu­nity for Mex­i­can tra­di­tional heal­ers to share knowl­edge about curan­derismo, the art and sci­ence of Mex­i­can folk heal­ing, with stu­dents and mem­bers of the public.
Tor­res takes an inte­gra­tive approach to med­i­cine and his class fea­tures demon­stra­tions incor­po­rat­ing curan­derismo with var­i­ous tra­di­tional and holis­tic health tech­niques. The course uses heal­ers and health prac­ti­tion­ers from UNM, Mex­ico and the Albu­querque com­mu­nity as instructors.
“Each year the class has grown in pop­u­lar­ity. We con­sis­tently have more than 100 stu­dents and this year, I’m again expect­ing local, national and inter­na­tional stu­dents,” Tor­res said. “Unique about this class is that local curan­deros — prac­ti­tion­ers and heal­ers — all come together to share and learn about tra­di­tional heal­ing meth­ods. The first week local curan­deros will be involved, while both Mex­i­can curan­deros and local curan­deros will take part in week two,” he added.
In con­junc­tion with the class, the UNM Women’s Resource Cen­ter and the National His­panic Cul­tural Cen­ter spon­sor and host two Mex­i­can Tra­di­tional health fairs (Ferias de Salud) and free work­shops; as well as a per­for­mance, “Santa de Cab­ora” about “Tere­sita,” a leg­endary curan­dera.
The health fairs and work­shops are set for Tues­day, July 24 from noon to 4 p.m. on the UNM cam­pus; and on Thurs­day, July 26 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the National His­panic Cul­tural Cen­ter. The fairs fea­ture more than 30 well-known Mex­i­can folk healers/curanderos(as) from the Méx­ico City area, includ­ing the com­mu­ni­ties of Cuer­navaca, Tepoztlán, Amatlán and Oaxaca.
“The heal­ers will dis­cuss tra­di­tional heal­ing ther­a­pies includ­ing herbal med­ica­tions, spir­i­tual energy cleans­ings and other heal­ing tech­niques, which have remained a part of the Mex­i­can cul­ture for cen­turies. Treat­ments will be avail­able and dona­tions accepted,” Tor­res said.
Elena Diaz Bjorkquist per­forms “Santa de Cab­ora” on Thurs­day, July 19 at 7 p.m. at the National His­panic Cul­tural Cen­ter in the Roy E. Dis­ney Room. Bjorkquist is a writer, his­to­rian and artist from Tuc­son who authored two books, “Suf­fer Smoke,” and “Water from the Moon.” Open­ing per­for­mances that night include the music of Elena Klaver, a singer-songwriter whose songs reflect her work for peace, jus­tice and envi­ron­men­tal issues; as well as a “heal­ing through laugh­ter” demon­stra­tion by renowned curan­deras, Rita Navar­rete Perez and Tonita Gon­za­les. A $10 sug­gested dona­tion will ben­e­fit the UNM Women’s Resource Cen­ter and the curan­derismo class.
For more infor­ma­tion on the course, includ­ing reg­is­tra­tion, syl­labus, health fairs and work­shops, visit Curan­derismo, or fol­low on Face­book.
Media Con­tact: Car­olyn Gon­za­les (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu