Folk Medicine Among Urban Mexican Americans: Cultural Persistence,Change,and Displacement

Abstract

Two large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews with 24 Mexican Americans in three Southern California towns indicate that folk medicine is a persistent but ancillary health care system. Most Mexican Americans know something about folk medicine, but fewer maintain strong belief in it and only a small number of Mexican Americans consult folk healers. Scientific medicine is the primary health/mental health system, having replaced in large part the folk medical system. Folk medicine endures as an alternative, however, primarily in the treatment of health problems that are judged minor and require little extrafamilial attention or that are judged severe and persist despite professional scientific health care. There is also evidence that folk medical terms and treatments have changed and become integrated with scientific medicine in the minds of many Mexican Americans. The findings contrast with research in south Texas and in rural areas where folk medicine appears to be more significant for the general Mexican American population.

Dos encuestas a gran escala y entrevistas profundas con 24 México-Americanos en tres ciudades del sur de California indicaron que la medicina tradicional es un sistema de cuidado de la salud persistente pero secundario en importancia. La mayoría de los México-Americanos conocen algo sobre la medicina tradicional pero pocos creen en ella y un número reducido de México-Americanos consultan a curanderos. La medicina científica es el principal sistema de salud física y mental habiendo reemplazado en gran parte a la medicina tradicional. Esta ultima continua sin embargo, como una alternativa para el tratamiento de problemas de salud que se consideran menores en importancia y que requieren poca atención fuera de la familia o para problemas que se consideran severos y persisten a pesar del cuidado profesional científico. Existe también evidencia de que los términos y tratamientos derivados de la medicina tradicional han cambiado y se han integrado a la medicina científica en las mentes de muchos México-Americanos. Los resultados de estos estudios contradicen los resultados de investigaciones en el sur de Texas y en áreas rurales donde la medicina tradicional parece ser mas importante para la población México-Americana.

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