Religious healing in the U.S. Southwest, particularly among Mexican Americans, has a multi-faceted profile including pilgrimage, prayer, saint veneration, channeling spirits, herbal remedies, and energy manipulation. How did the diversity of Mexican American religious healing traditions come into being? The origin stories of religious healing practices tell us as much about the present as the past. From curanderismo to the miraculous Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico, current-day Mexican American religious and ethnic identities are tied to stories of healing and healthcare from long ago, suggesting that religious and political ‘wellness’ continues to be tied to how we remember what has come before.
An expert University of Arizona panel will follow with a discussion on “Health, Culture, and Religion on the Arizona Border.”
* Live Stream will be available.
Guest Speaker:
Brett Hendrickson, PhD, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Lafayette College
Panel Speakers:
Michael M. I. Abecassis, MD, Dean, College of Medicine – Tucson
Felina Cordova-Marks (member of the Hopi Tribe), DrPH, MPH, MS, Assistant Professor, Health Promotion Sciences, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
Kristy Slominski, PhD, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies & Classics, College of Humanities
Ada Wilkinson-Lee, PhD, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
