_Historian as Curandera_ by Aurora Levins Morales study guide
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Los Angeles Pierce College *
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101
Subject
History
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by MegaWaterCrocodile33
"Historian as Curandera" by Aurora Levins Morales Study Guide
Study Questions
1. Identify and explain the various ways in which colonizing powers have attacked the sense of
history and identity of peoples and groups they work to dominate.
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Taking over the transmissions of culture to the young. Children were taken from families
by force and required to abandon their language, dress, customs, and spirituality of their
own people.
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Accomplished through destruction of records, oral traditions, cultural forms, and
interfering with education of the young
2. Define and explain imperial history.
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Controlling elite comes into power
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The ways power is operated in multiple domains
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Explains how the new imbalances of power are natural
3. Define and explain official history.
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Designed to make sense of oppression. “The oppressed are oppressed because it is
their nature to be oppressed”
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Result of human behavior, historical events and choices and not natural law
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Those who dominate must justify themselves and find ways to see their own dominance
4. Define and explain medicinal history.
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Centered on history of medicine
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Healing processes
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Ways in which society has addressed healthcare and medicine overall
5. Compare and contrast imperial, official and medicinal histories.
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Imperial: Rise and power of empires, their political, military and economic structures
(political, territorial power)
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Official: Actions and decisions made by the government and state
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Medicinal: Focused on history of medicine as well as role of healers and practitioners
6. Identify the general populations whose histories have not been told or have been under-told.
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Puerto Rican Women
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Poor, indigenous, African, mestiza and mulata, women enslaved and indentured, rural
women, emigrant women in the United States.
7. What biases are built into historical standards of evidence? How does Levins Morales
problematize written history? What additional types of evidence does Levins Morales ask that
we consider and why?
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The biases are that we rely heavily on what is written
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Just because something is written down does not mean it is true
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It only means that someone with authority wrote their own version of events while
someone else did not
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Need to ask ourselves what might be missing?
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What might have been recorded in order to manipulate events and in what direction?
8. Describe and explain historical agency. Why is historical agency significant to medicinal
history?
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Historical agency are people, communities and overall groups that take part in certain
decisions and choices made to influence the course of history
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Historians are people who shared their own stories and experiences
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Many healers made treatments and it was documented for their insights and findings
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Historical agency and medicinal history together shapes healthcare beliefs
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