La Botánica Cultural: Ars Medica, Ars Poetica

Margarite Fernández Olmos

Chapter Chapter 1 in Healing Cultures, 2001, pp 1-15 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the Latino barrios of many U.S. metropolitan centers, there are establishments that bewilder the inexperienced passerby: botánicas. Fascinated (or disconcerted) by the term—is this, perhaps, some sort of garden shop?—and the colorful and eclectic shop windows—a seemingly unfathomable melange of books, statues, herbs, candles, soaps, powders, spiritual lithographs and leaflets—few are aware of their cultural and functional diversity and complexity. A glance inside and the mystery increases, as one is confronted with the copious pharmacopoeia of traditional folk and ritual healing: shelves of multicolored “solutions” in a variety of forms claiming power to effect important changes in one’s life—from a remedy for a problematic love life to the cure for a serious illness or relief from distress. With time the mesmerized onlooker soon discovers, however, that the botánica is a multifaceted reality. Part herb shop and folk clinic, more than a “poor man’s pharmacy,” the botánica is a curative promise. With a pluralistic and eclectic worldview, botánicas are a community enterprise, a heritage, and a symbol of Caribbean cultural healing, a palpable representation of medical mestizaje, or syncretism. La botánica cultural is our metaphor, then, for the diverse range of holistic/artistic and spiritual remedies that Caribbean peoples have drawn upon for centuries whenever the need has arisen for individual and/or communal healing.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-07647-2_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137076472

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-07647-2_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().