Curanderismo Collection

The Curanderismo Collection is comprised of materials from the College of Health Sciences and Human Services. Curanderismo, or folk healing, involves a trained healer, or curandero(a), who treats a person experiencing physical or spiritual illness.

Dr. Robert Trotter (Former PAU Faculty Member and Medical Anthropologist) and Juan Antonio Chavira (Medical Sociologist/Anthropologist) produced the curanderismo materials in a project during the late 1970s in South Texas. The project, "Proyecto Comprender" served as a valuable source of information for regional public health and medical professionals who sought to better understand Mexican American concepts of health and illness. The original materials include 35 mm photographic slides, 16 mm moving image film, and cassette and reel-to-reel audio recordings used to create a film, a slide series with an accompanying soundtrack, and a monograph).

The collection is open for research. All materials have been digitized and are available online.

Grant Funding: Digitization of the collection materials for online access was made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission through the 2013-2014 TexTreasures Grant Program.