Relationships between Spanish and Spanish-American Folk Medicine

Abstract

BY GEORGE M. FOSTER HE transfer of much Spanish culture to the New World, and its subsequent assimilation with native American Indian elements to form modern Hispanic-American culture, was accomplished by both formal and informal mechanisms. State and Church formulated elaborate plans to guide colonial policy, particularly in government, religion, education, and social and economic forms. But also countless unplanned and informal contacts with the native peoples modified Spanish custom and belief in such areas as folklore, music, home economics, child training, and everyday family living. In medicine-particularly folk medicine-both formal and informal mechanisms have been important in the development of modern Spanish-American beliefs and practices. This paper points out a number of relationships between the two areas and raises several more general questions which are suggested by the data. Spanish medicine at the time of the conquest of America was based largely on classical Greek and Roman practice, as modified during transmission by way of the Arab World, first through Persia and such famous doctors as Rhazes (c. 850-925) and Avicena (980-Io37) and then such Hispano-Arabic physicians as Avenzoar of Sevilla (I073-II6I). The systems of these men, as they influenced thought in Spain, are revealed in a series of books reprinted or published for the first time 1The Spanish data in this paper are taken from the sources given in this footnote and from my field notes from the towns of Alosno,

El síndrome cálido-fresco en la medicina popular criolla del Chaco argentino

“…mericanas (Foster 1953(Foster , 1994Queiroz 1984;Currier 1966, Peeters 1979Messer 1987, entre otros). Según Foster (1979), la investigación en Latinoamérica reportada en más de 100 fuentes ha revelado que la dicotomía frío-caliente está difundida ampliamente y constituye la unidad etiológica más importante de la medicina tradicional o popular.…”

“…La teoría humoral, refigurada por la cultura cristiana y el galenismo, estuvo en boga en España hasta los siglos xvi y xvii desde donde habría ingresado a Hispanoamérica. Aquí sólo habrían perdurado los conceptos de calido-fresco -incorporando respectivamente lo seco y lo húmedo-para caracterizar trastornos y remedios (Foster 1953).…”

Migration and Healing in a Latino/a Context

“…In fact, mass cultural phenomena are something one has theories about rather than being theoretical systems themselves. This viewpoint is well represented in the articles about curanderismo that reflect its form and function within Mexican-American communities (e.g., Clark 1959b;Edgerton et al 1970;Foster 1953;Martinez and Martin 1966;Torrey 1969;etc.). No effort seems to have been made by previous authors to demonstrate linkages between the described folk illnesses and their treatments other than through documenting their coexistence within a specified cultural group.…”

“…Some traditional curanderos classify herbs as having the dichotomous properties considered essential for humoral medicine (see Foster 1953). These properties can be described as: hotcold and wet-dry.…”

“…One element common to hispanic-based folk medicine that is present in most areas, the hot-cold syndrome (see Ingham 1940;Foster 1953;and Currier 1966) is missing in South Texas. This condition was first noted by Madsen (1961:23-24) and was reconfirmed by the authors.…”