Letras y limpias : decolonial medicine and holistic healing in Mexican American literature /

Letras y limpias : decolonial medicine and holistic healing in Mexican American literature /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Ellis, Amanda, 1981- author.
Imprint:	Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, [2021]
Description:	xx, 170 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	American literature -- Mexican American authors -- History and criticism. Mexican American women healers. Traditional medicine -- United States. Healers in literature. American literature -- Mexican American authors. Healers in literature. Mexican American women healers. Traditional medicine. United States. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Format:	E-Resource Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12622912

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780816542741 0816542740 9780816542680 0816542686
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"In Letras y Limpias, Amanda V. Ellis analyzes depictions of the figure of the curandera, or folk healer, in foundational texts of Mexican American literature. It is the first full-length study to provide a literary history of representations that depict folk healing. In doing so, it argues that curanderismo, and more specifically the figure of the curandera, throughout literature is a figurative watermark that personifies both the continuity and discontinuity among three disparate historical periods of the Mexican American literary archive (pre-Chicano Movement writing, Chicano Nationalist Movement writing, and Post-Chicano Nationalist Movement writing). Ellis argues that the persistence of this figure in Mexican American literary tradition is an act of decolonial discursive resistance that poses a call for holistic healing"--

Description
Summary:	Letras y Limpias is the first book to explore the literary significance of the figure of the curandera within Mexican American literature. Amanda Ellis traces the significance of the curandera and her evolution across a variety of genres written by leading Mexican American authors, including Américo Paredes, Rudolfo Anaya, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Manuel Munoz, ire'ne lara silva, and more.<br> <br> <br> <br> Ellis explores the curandera in relationship to decoloniality, bioethics, and the topic of healing while recognizing the limitations and spiritual shortcomings of Western medicine. Ellis argues that our contemporary western health-care system does not know how to fully grapple with illnesses that patients face. Ellis reads the curandera's perennial representation as an ongoing example of decolonial love useful for deconstructing narrow definitions of health and personhood, and for grappling with the effects of neoliberalism and colonialism on the health-care industry.<br> <br> <br> <br> Letras y Limpias draws from Chicana feminist theory to assert the importance of the mindbodyspirit connection. Ellis conveys theoretical insights about the continual reimagining of the figure of the curandera as a watermark across Mexican American literary texts. This literary figure points to the oppressive forces that create susto and reminds us that healing work requires specific attention to colonialism, its legacy, and an intentional choice to carry forward the traditional practices rooted in curanderismo passed on from prior generations. By turning toward the figure of the curandera, readers are better poised to challenge prevailing ideas about health, and imagine ways to confront the ongoing problems that coloniality creates. Letras y Limpias shows how the figure of the curandera offers us ways to heal that have nothing to do with copays or medical professionals refusing care, and everything to do with honoring the beauty and complexity of any, every, and all humans.<br> <br> <br> <br>
Physical Description:	xx, 170 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780816542741 0816542740 9780816542680 0816542686