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In one summer course, UNM students learn how to laugh without being told a joke, ward off the evil eye and even release stagnated blood with burning hot glass cups.
“Traditional Medicine Without Borders: Curanderismo in New Mexico & the Southwest” is a two-week class running from July 16 to 27 that focuses on traditional medicine. Class organizer and professor Eliseo “Cheo” Torres said that, to his knowledge, it’s the only university curanderismo class that exists in the U.S.
“Some students say that it changes their lives, and some students continue this path,” Torres said. “It’s a lot of good vibes and a lot of friendships that are developed. It brings back memories of grandma and some auntie who did something similar.”
Torres said curanderismo is not simply American indigenous medicine, but a mix of traditional medicine from around the world.
He said Arabic beliefs such as the evil eye were passed on to the Spanish, who then integrated their customs with those of the native populations in the U.S.
“Sometimes you could refer to it as integrated medicine or holistic medicine because they (healers) look at the body, mind and spirit, the whole person,” he said. “It takes the best of different cultures, but it provides for a person with certain needs: it could be a spiritual need, it could be material. They use herbs, they use traditional massage.”
Torres, who focuses on the theories and science behind why alternative methods work, said he finds similarities between traditional medicine in the Netherlands, Turkey and New Mexico.
For example, “cupping” is a Mexican practice that has many similarities to traditional Chinese medicine.
In a class on July 18 in the Anthropology building, a Mexican healer lit a cotton ball on fire, held it inside a glass jar for a few seconds and promptly set the jar on a patient’s back. The suction from the jar raised the patient’s skin, and made a sharp popping noise when removed. The patient whimpered at one point, but afterward said she felt relaxed.
One woman said half of her face was paralyzed, but was then cured by this traditional healing ritual.
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Torres said he emphasizes the theories behind these healing methods so that people don’t just write it off as magic or a false science.
“A lot of this stuff has been distorted throughout the years because it’s been word-of-mouth,” he said. “So what we’re now doing is checking out the research, and understanding why certain things work, even in rituals. Once we give people explanations, they feel better, and they’re not going to distort the information.”
He said traditional medicine is not an alternative to Western medicine, but that the two inform each other. He said many traditional healers will recommend herbs based on the Western medicine a patient is taking, and traditional medicine can be beneficial to anyone.
“Western medicine is wonderful; we don’t want to tell people that this is the only way or that they should change,” Torres said.
“But herbs are good for you, diet is good for you, exercise is good for you … there’s nothing new about eating right and resting and living a healthy life and a healthy spiritual life also.”
Torres said he thinks curanderismo attracts more interest as time passes. Indigenous healer and student Little White Feather said she thinks people are returning to curanderismo because it is more holistic than Western medicine.
“So many people are starting to go back to their roots, and learning about their roots is so important,” she said. “All cultures have curanderas. People are seeking traditional medicine and healing, and wanting to get away from ‘here, take this pill, have this surgery.’”
Randy Burson, a sophomore pre-med student at Swarthmore College who takes summer classes at UNM, said this class will inform his future studies in medical school.
“This is a lot of people’s culture, so it’s important to know people’s backgrounds, especially going into the medical field where you want to know what people believe and how they want to be treated,” he said.
