Healing Latinos

The Art of Healing Latinos collects the wisdom of health professionals who have particular expertise in treating Latino patients. Their knowledge comes from many years of service in fields that range from pediatrics to geriatrics, oncology to psychology. Uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between the world of American medicine and the traditions of Latino culture, these physicians, researchers, administrators, and activists offer insight and advice to all who provide, or aspire to provide, health services to the Latino community.

This edited volume focuses on the role of traditional or indigenous healers, as well as the application of traditional healing practices in contemporary counseling and therapeutic modalities with Latina/o people. The book offers a broad coverage of important topics, such as traditional healer’s views of mental/psychological health and well-being, the use of traditional healing techniques in contemporary psychotherapy, and herbal remedies in psychiatric practice. It also discusses common factors across traditional healing methods and contemporary psychotherapies, the importance of spirituality in counseling and everyday life, the application of indigenous healing practices with Latina/o undergraduates, indigenous techniques in working with perpetrators of domestic violence, and religious healing systems and biomedical models. The book is an important reference for anyone working within the general field of mental health practice and those seeking to understand culturally relevant practice with Latina/o populations.

This critical anthology showcases an interdisciplinary forum of scholars sharing a common interest in the analysis, discussion, critique, and dissemination of educational issues impacting Latinos. Drawing on the best of the past 20 years of the Journal of Latinos and Education, the collection highlights work that has been seminal in addressing complex educational issues affecting and influencing the growing Latina and Latino population. Chapters discuss the production and application of wisdom and knowledge to real-world problems while engaging and collaborating with the interests of key stakeholders in other sectors outside the "traditional" academy. Organized thematically around issues related to policy, research, practice, and creative and literary works, the collection is sure to extend and encourage novel ways of thinking about the ongoing and emerging questions around the unifying thread of Latinos and education.

Latino folklore comprises a kaleidoscope of cultural traditions. This compelling three-volume work showcases its richness, complexity, and beauty. Latino folklore is a fun and fascinating subject to many Americans, regardless of ethnicity. Interest in—and celebration of—Latin traditions such as Día de los Muertos in the United States is becoming more common outside of Latino populations. Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions provides a broad and comprehensive collection of descriptive information regarding all the genres of Latino folklore in the United States, covering the traditions of Americans who trace their ancestry to Mexico, Spain, or Latin America. The encyclopedia surveys all manner of topics and subject matter related to Latino folklore, covering the oral traditions and cultural heritage of Latin Americans from riddles and dance to food and clothing. It covers the folklore of 21 Latin American countries as these traditions have been transmitted to the United States, documenting how cultures interweave to enrich each other and create a unique tapestry within the melting pot of the United States.

According to the 2000 Census, Latinos accounted for 12.5% of the US population, or 35.3 million residents-the fastest growing population in the United States. The influence of this large and growing demographic can be seen throughout every academic discipline in the numerous books, journals, and societies on multicultural assessment, counseling, and research that have begun to appear. However, one area of inquiry remains largely unexplored; domestic violence within Latino families. Although it appears that such violence occurs as frequently in Latino families as in Caucasian families, little research has been done on this topic and very few counseling programs explicitly developed for Latino families currently exist. Healing from Violence fills this void. Drawing on a research study of 150 Latino men who completed a year of court-ordered treatment in Southern California, and a four-year pilot study, the authors mix quantitative and qualitative methodology in order to provide counselors with an opportunity to hear first-hand how Latino partner abusive men think about manhood (machismo), interpersonal relationships, (respeto, personalismo, and simpatÌa), and family life (familismo). The authors then use these in-depth portraits to guide counselors in tailoring treatment plans to the specific needs of Latino men. Voices from Healing From Violence: "How should a Mexican man be? Respectful, understanding, loving, responsible. A good communicator. If a man had all that, and his partner too, wow! It would be great. I'd like to be like the man I just described - the ideal man, loving, respectful, all that." - Ramon "The whole time I've been in the program I've been doing something I had never done in my life - reflecting and taking stock of my own life. Putting the good and the bad in the balance." - Raul "One of the goals of group therapy, of any therapy, is to give hope. Even the man with the worst possible case, where he has lost his marriage and custody of his children, can learn to use respectful relationship skills at work and in a potential new relationship. He may have brought great losses upon himself, but his future is not necessarily bleak." - the Authors

Spanning from the early nineteenth century to today, this intellectual history examines the work of Latino writers who explored the major philosophic and political themes of their day, including the meaning and implementation of democracy, their democratic and cultural rights under U.S. dominion, their growing sense of nationhood, and the challenges of slavery and disenfranchisement of women in a democratic republic that had yet to realize its ideals. Over the course of two centuries, these Latino or Hispanic intellectuals were natural-born citizens of the United States, immigrants, or political refugees. Many of these intellectuals, whether citizens or not, strove to embrace and enliven such democratic principles as freedom of speech and of the press, the protection of minorities in the Bill of Rights and in subsequent laws, and the protection of linguistic and property rights, among many others, guaranteed by treaties when the United States incorporated their homelands into the Union. The first six chapters present the work of lesser-known historical figures—most of whom have been consistently ignored by Anglo- and Euro-centric history and whose works have been widely inaccessible until recently—who were revolutionaries, editors of magazines and newspapers, and speechmakers who influenced the development of a Latino consciousness. The last three chapters deal with three foundational figures of the Chicano Movement, the last two of whom either subverted the concept of nationhood or went beyond it to embrace internationalism in an outreach to humanity as a whole. Latinos and Nationhood sheds new light on the biographies of Félix Varela, José Alvarez de Toledo y Dubois, Francisco Ramírez, Tomás Rivera, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, and Gloria E. Anzaldúa, among others.

First Published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.