Curanderas - traditional healers in Mexican culture - bridge the gaps between multiple planes of existence - spiritual and material, modern and pre-modern - dispensing medicinal herbs, prayers, and instruction. Elizabeth de la Portilla writes of the world and practices of San Antonio curanderas. As a scholar, an ethnographer, and a curandera in training, her parallel perspectives uniquely aid readers in understanding this subordinated culture. Retelling the stories various healers have shared, interpreting their answers to her probing questions, and describing the herbs and recipes they use in their arts, the author vividly illuminates the borderland context of San Antonio. Scholars and readers of anthropology, sociology, Chicana and Chicano studies, and women's studies will savor the many layers of meaning and application in ""They All Want Magic"".

About the Author
ELIZABETH DE LA PORTILLA, an assistant professor of bilingual and bicultural studies in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio, holds a joint appointment in the anthropology department there.


Book Information
ISBN 9781603441148
Author Elizabeth de la Portilla
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Texas A & M University Press
Publisher Texas A & M University Press