DOCSLIB.ORG

An Interdiscplinary Study of El Niño Fidencio and His Religious Movement

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Interdiscplinary Study of El Niño Fidencio and His Religious Movement THE DEVOTION TO A LIVING SANTO AND HIS RELIGIOUS HEALING: AN INTERDISCPLINARY STUDY OF EL NIÑO FIDENCIO AND HIS RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT By José Maria Villarreal A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Chicano/Latino Studies - Doctor of Philosophy 2015 ABSTRACT THE DEVOTION TO A LIVING SANTO AND HIS RELIGIOUS HEALING: AN INTERDISCPLINARY STUDY OF EL NIÑO FIDENCIO AND HIS RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT By José Maria Villarreal This dissertation outlines a fresh approach to the inter-disciplinary study of El Niño Fidencio (the healer) and El Niño Fidencio religious movement as seen under the conceptual lens of an indigenized Christianity that distinguishes itself from mainstream Christianity. Apart from consulting an extended body of literature related to world religions, religious theory, curanderismo , popular religion and their analytical relationship to El Niño Fidencio, I also employed the inside research methodology to conduct my ethnographic work. My extensive fieldwork experience metamorphosed into a theoretical model centered on cultural rupture, and indigenous practices as symbolic resistance. The inside research methods allowed me to live among the devotees of El Niño Fidencio and participate in their rituals and ceremonies. Taking this into account, I posit the following theoretical framework: El Niño Fidencio and El Niño Fidencio’s religious movement represent a cultural rupture from mainstream Catholicism and Western forms of Christianity as evidenced by Fidencista’s belief in the spirit world and the belief that El Niño Fidencio is a living saint and at times seen as synonymous with Jesus Christ by hardline Fidencistas. El Niño is accessible through the intervention of a spiritual medium known as a materia . El Niño Fidencio gained prominence as a popular traditional indigenous healer ( curandero espiritual ) since his appearance in the early twentieth century. This time period represents a period marked by turbulence and despair as Mexican President Elias Calles persecutes the Catholic Church, challenging its accumulated wealth and authority. At the same, El Niño Fidencio appears abruptly — becoming a messiah for thousands by addressing the material, spiritual, and health needs of the poor, needs that the nation-state and the Church had failed to fulfill after the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Subsequent to his death in 1938, Espinazo, Nuevo León, México, was transformed into a pilgrimage community that ultimately gave rise El Niño Fidencio religious movement, a religious insurgency that continues to persevere. The dissertation is organized into an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. I divide my work into five parts. The introduction provides an overview of the study of El Niño Fidencio and the literature review details the extensive scholarly literature related to this study. Chapter one presents a biography of the life of El Niño Fidencio and traces the interconnections of his emergence to the Cristero War. I delve into the Cristero War during the mid-twentieth century and examine State and Church relations. I analyze how a healer like El Niño Fidencio challenges these societal institutions. In chapter two, I present analysis of my ethnographic research, focusing on of El Niño’s healings, traditions, rituals and ceremonies that shape his character. Chapter three untangles the participant’s interviews and constructs conceptual analysis. I trace the participant’s multiple views, challenging established mythologies and ultimately bring the Fidencista perspective to a conceptual model. In the conclusion chapter, I present theses to support the claim of El Niño Fidencio’s distinctiveness by emphasizing his successful accommodations to gain religious space within mainstream religion. Copyright by JOSÉ MARIA VILLARREAL 2015 This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, the late José A. Villarreal and Maria M. Villarreal. Thank you jefito , for teaching me the meaning of hard work in the cotton fields surrounding Robstown, Texas. Your famous phrase “ Nomas un surco mas mijo, no mires para tras ” (just one more row, don’t look back) has ridden my fear of hard work. To my madresita Maria Magdalena who cured me with the finest backyard herbs such as mansanilla , te de limon and anis con canela , gracias y perdóname por las mortifaciones que te di . Your faith in the almighty kept you mentally strong even while facing the most difficult circumstances. Inclusively, to all my aunts and uncles both on my father’s side and my mother’s side who always blessed me with love, tamales and pan de polvo , gracias. I also dedicate this work to my wife Mary Patsy Pena who had the patience to stand by me while I completed my arduous Ph.d. program. In addition, I dedicate this work to my three sons, José Canek Villarreal, Captain Sergio Villarreal (USA), Joshua Adam Villarreal, and all my grandchildren, who include Alexandra Bianca Villarreal, José Canek Villarreal Jr., Casey Jo Villarreal, Mikiel Villarreal, Marcos Martin Gonzalez, Martin Gonzalez, Michael Gonzalez, Christopher Pena Jr., Andrew Pena, Angelina Pena, and Robert Pena among others. In addition, I dedicate this dissertation to my late hermano , Eugene Godfried, a dedicated activist, journalist and scholar, as well as to all of the people who have dedicated their life to struggle for social justice, self-determination, freedom and love of humankind. I dedicate this work to the many people that have molded me into a strong conscientious man; I ask forgiveness if I did not mention your name and accept my well-meant love and appreciation to all of you personally. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all the spiritually conscious people that influenced me to complete this dissertation. This dissertation belongs to all the Fidencista community in Espinazo, Nuevo León, and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, México, as well as those in south Texas and the Midwest. I am forever humbled and honored to have met the late materia principal Comadre Cipriana Zapata in Espinazo. Thank you for sharing your life story about the many years of being a disciple of El Niño Fidencio — your wisdom has touched so many lives. Thank you to the late materia Alberto Salinas. You nobly treated those who suffered pain, ignoring the fact that you also struggled with your own health issues. To the late Ramon Rodriguez, thank you for leading us in beautiful chorus in El Niño’s trono in Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Thank you materia Nieves Carrion, daughter Alicia and sons Emilio and Jesus for introducing me to El Niño Fidencio at the Robstown, Texas trono . Your prayers uplifted me while I was hospitalized. Alma Martinez, thank you for sharing your knowledge of El Niño and for introducing me to Don Beto, and materia Madgalena. Don Beto, mil gracias for the countless hours of personal testimony of you witnessing El Niño in life and for sharing your knowledge on the preparation of traditional salves and cures. Materia Magdalena, thank you for attending the spiritual and health needs of the poor in Piedras Negras, Coahuila; your involvement en lo bueno exemplifies your dedication to El Niño Fidencio. I am also grateful to Dr. Stanley Bittinger who has been my mentor throughout my academic career. Dr. Antonio Zavaleta, thank you for your example of being both a scholar and a Fidencista ; you motivated me to follow a similar path. Special thanks to all the social activists of the Chicano movement in Robstown, Texas, as well as in the Rio Grande valley, Crystal City, Austin, and San Antonio as well as those in Denver, vi Colorado and Lansing, Michigan. We are in solidarity with those who remained firm in the struggle for a true democracy in México and in Latin America despite the reprisals. Our prayers are extended to those who continue to seek the truth on the disappearance of forty-three students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, México. To the social activists who are incarcerated, but continue to plant seeds of liberation in the state and federal correctional facilities, gracias carnales . I am very appreciative of the Chicano Latino Studies Department at Michigan State University and especially of my guidance committee members Dr. Dionicio Valdes-chair, Dr. Theresa Melendez, Dr. Xuefie Ren, and Dr. Scott Michaelsen. You supported me during the most turbulent times of my academic journey, challenged me to be the best, and instilled in me the moral responsibility of being a Chicano scholar. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION — The Study of El Niño Fidencio ..........................................................1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 Literature Review.................................................................................................................5 Curanderismo ................................................................................................................6 Official vs. Unofficial Religion ..................................................................................13 Religion and Healing ..................................................................................................18 Oral Tradition ..............................................................................................................21 Cultural Rupture ..........................................................................................................24
Load more

Recommended publications
  • I. Background Information the Cristero War Or Cristero
    Historical Crisis Committee: Cristero War Members of the Dais: Myrna del Mar González & Gabriel García CSIMNU: September 23 & 24, 2016 I. Background Information The Cristero War or Cristero Rebellion (1926–1929), otherwise called La Cristiada, was a battle in many western Mexican states against the secularist, hostile to Catholic, and anticlerical strategies of the Mexican government. The defiance was set off by order under President Plutarco Elías Calles of a statute to authorize the anticlerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 (otherwise called the Calles Law). Calles tried to wipe out the force of the Catholic Church and associations subsidiary with it as an organization, furthermore smothering well known religious festivals. The gigantic prominent provincial uprising was implicitly upheld by the Church progressive system and was helped by urban Catholic backing. US Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow expedited transactions between the Calles government and the Church. The administration made a few concessions; the Church pulled back its support for the Cristero contenders and the contention finished in 1929. It can be seen as a noteworthy occasion in the battle among Church and State going back to the nineteenth century with the War of Reform, however, it can likewise be translated as the last real laborer uprising in Mexico taking after the end of the military period of the Mexican Revolution in 1920. II. Church-State Conflict The Mexican Revolution (1910–20) remains the biggest clash in Mexican history. The fall of Dictator Porfirio Díaz unleashed disarray with numerous battling groups and areas. The Catholic Church and the Díaz government had gone to a casual modus vivendi 1Whereby the State did not uphold the anticlerical articles of the liberal Constitution of 1857, and additionally did not cancel them.
    [Show full text]
  • Qt2wn8v8p6.Pdf
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Reciprocity in Literary Translation: Gift Exchange Theory and Translation Praxis in Brazil and Mexico (1968-2015) Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2wn8v8p6 Author Gomez, Isabel Cherise Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Reciprocity in Literary Translation: Gift Exchange Theory and Translation Praxis in Brazil and Mexico (1968-2015) A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures by Isabel Cherise Gomez 2016 © Copyright by Isabel Cherise Gomez 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Reciprocity in Literary Translation: Gift Exchange Theory and Translation Praxis in Brazil and Mexico (1968-2015) by Isabel Cherise Gomez Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Efraín Kristal, Co-Chair Professor José Luiz Passos, Co-Chair What becomes visible when we read literary translations as gifts exchanged in a reciprocal symbolic economy? Figuring translations as gifts positions both source and target cultures as givers and recipients and supplements over-used translation metaphors of betrayal, plundering, submission, or fidelity. As Marcel Mauss articulates, the gift itself desires to be returned and reciprocated. My project maps out the Hemispheric Americas as an independent translation zone and highlights non-European translation norms. Portuguese and Spanish have been sidelined even from European translation studies: only in Mexico and Brazil do we see autochthonous translation theories in Spanish and Portuguese. Focusing on translation strategies that value ii taboo-breaking, I identify poet-translators in Mexico and Brazil who develop their own translation manuals.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study of Folk Religion and Migración: La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde
    California State University, Monterey Bay Digital Commons @ CSUMB Capstone Projects and Master's Theses Capstone Projects and Master's Theses 5-2020 A Case Study of Folk Religion and Migración: La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde Zulema Denise Santana California State University, Monterey Bay Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all Recommended Citation Santana, Zulema Denise, "A Case Study of Folk Religion and Migración: La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde" (2020). Capstone Projects and Master's Theses. 871. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all/871 This Capstone Project (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Capstone Projects and Master's Theses at Digital Commons @ CSUMB. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Projects and Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CSUMB. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Case Study of Folk Religion and Migración: La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde Global Studies Capstone Project Report Zulema D. Santana May 8th, 2020 California State University Monterey Bay 1 Introduction Religion has helped many immigrants establish themselves in their new surroundings in the United States (U.S.) and on their journey north from Mexico across the US-Mexican border (Vásquez and Knott 2014). They look to their God and then to their Mexican Folk Saints, such as La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde, for protection and strength. This case study focuses on how religion— in particular Folk Saints such as La Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde— can give solace and hope to Mexican migrants, mostly Catholics, when they cross the border into the U.S, and also after they settle in the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Christ in Yaqui Garb: Teresa Urrea's Christian Theology and Ethic
    religions Article Christ in Yaqui Garb: Teresa Urrea’s Christian Theology and Ethic Ryan Ramsey Religion Department, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76706, USA; [email protected] Abstract: A healer, Mexican folk saint, and revolutionary figurehead, Teresa Urrea exhibited a deeply inculturated Christianity. Yet in academic secondary literature and historical fiction that has arisen around Urrea, she is rarely examined as a Christian exemplar. Seen variously as an exemplary feminist, chicana, Yaqui, curandera, and even religious seeker, Urrea’s self-identification with Christ is seldom foregrounded. Yet in a 1900 interview, Urrea makes that relation to Christ explicit. Indeed, in her healing work, she envisioned herself emulating Christ. She understood her abilities to be given by God. She even followed an ethic which she understood to be an emulation of Christ. Closely examining that interview, this essay argues that Urrea’s explicit theology and ethic is, indeed, a deeply indigenized Christianity. It is a Christianity that has attended closely to the religion’s central figure and sought to emulate him. Yet it is also a theology and ethic that emerged from her own social and geographic location and, in particular, the Yaqui social imaginary. Urrea’s theology and ethics—centered on the person of Christ—destabilized the colonial order and forced those who saw her to see Christ in Yaqui, female garb. Keywords: transregional theologies; World Christianity; Christian theology; curanderismo; mysticism; borderlands religion; comparative and transregional history and mission; Porfiriato; decolonial theory Citation: Ramsey, Ryan. 2021. Christ in Yaqui Garb: Teresa Urrea’s Christian Theology and Ethic. 1. Introduction Religions 12: 126.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory
    History in the Making Volume 13 Article 5 January 2020 The Movement that Sinned Twice: The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory Consuelo S. Moreno CSUSB Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making Part of the Latin American History Commons Recommended Citation Moreno, Consuelo S. (2020) "The Movement that Sinned Twice: The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory," History in the Making: Vol. 13 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol13/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in History in the Making by an authorized editor of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Articles The Movement that Sinned Twice: The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory By Consuelo S. Moreno Abstract: Many scattered occurrences in Mexico bring to memory the 1926-1929 Cristero War, the contentious armed struggle between the revolutionary government and the Catholic Church. After the conflict ceased, the Cristeros and their legacy did not become part of Mexico’s national identity. This article explores the factors why this war became a distant memory rather than a part of Mexico’s history. Dissipation of Cristero groups and organizations, revolutionary social reforms in the 1930s, and the intricate relationship between the state and Church after 1929 promoted a silence surrounding this historical event. Decades later, a surge in Cristero literature led to the identification of notable Cristero figures in the 1990s and early 2000s.
    [Show full text]
  • Symbol of Conquest, Alliance, and Hegemony
    SYMBOL OF CONQUEST, ALLIANCE, AND HEGEMONY: THE IMAGE OF THE CROSS IN COLONIAL MEXICO by ZACHARY WINGERD Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON August 2008 Copyright © by Zachary Wingerd 2008 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I offer thanks to Dr. Dennis Reinhartz, Dr. Kenneth Philp, Dr. Richard Francaviglia, and Dr. Joseph Bastien who agreed to sit on my dissertation committee and guide my research and writing. Special thanks are given to Dr. Douglas Richmond who encouraged my topic from the very beginning and as the committee chair actively supported my endeavor. May 1, 2008 iii DEDICATED TO MY LOVING WIFE AND SONS Lindsey, Josh, and Jamie iv ABSTRACT SYMBOL OF CONQUEST, ALLIANCE, AND HEGEMONY: THE IMAGE OF THE CROSS IN COLONIAL MEXICO Zachary Wingerd, PhD. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2008 Supervising Professor: Douglas Richmond The universality of the cross image within the transatlantic confrontation meant not only a hegemony of culture, but of symbolism. The symbol of the cross existed in both European and American societies hundreds of years before Columbus. In both cultures, the cross was integral in religious ceremony, priestly decoration, and cosmic maps. As a symbol of life and death, of human and divine suffering, of religious and political acquiescence, no other image in transatlantic history has held such a perennial, powerful message as the cross. For colonial Mexico, which felt the brunt of Spanish initiative, the symbol of the cross penetrated the autochthonous culture out of which the independent nation and indigenous church were born.
    [Show full text]
  • Brief History of the Cristero War and Mexico's Struggle for Religious Freedom the Role of the U.S. Knights of Columbus in Resp
    Brief History of the Cristero War and Mexico’s Struggle for Religious Freedom When President Plutarco Calles took over as president of Mexico in 1924, he did not want the Catholic Church to be a part of any moral teachings to its citizens. He did not want God to be a part of anyone’s life. He wanted to bring Mexico’s population to belong to a Socialist state, and wanted to ensure that all citizens were going to be educated under the government’s dictatorship and secular mindset. He also wanted to ensure that only the government would have the freedom to form the minds of its citizens and insisted that the Church was poisoning the minds of the people. He implemented the “Law for Reforming the Penal Code” or “Calles’ Law”, which severely restricted the free practice of religion in Mexico. Priests or religious wearing clerical garb in public, and clerics who spoke out against the government could be jailed for five years. The Mexican bishops suspended public religious services in response to the law, and supported an economic boycott against the government. Violence soon erupted, as bands of Catholic peasants battled federal forces. Priests were shot and hung, Church property seized, and many religious institutions closed. The Cristeros’ battle cry was “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”). During the three-year war (1926-1929), approximately 90,000 people were killed. There are a total of 35 Martyrs who have been canonized. The Role of the U.S. Knights of Columbus in Response to the Cristero War In August of 1926, days after the Calles Law took effect, the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Meaning of the Cristero Religious War Against the Mexican Revolution *
    The Meaning of the Cristero Religious War Against the Mexican Revolution * JAMES W. WILKIE Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jcs/article/8/2/214/842539 by guest on 01 October 2021 Fighting in the name of "Christ the King," thousands of Cath- olics engaged in armed revolt against the Mexican Revolutionary regime from 1926 to 1929. The meaning of the Cristero rebellion has never been well understood because scholars have generally considered the Roman Catholic Church and the Mexican govern- mentas monoliths. In fact, Mexican hierarchical and lay Cath- olic groups were sharply divided over the nature of the Church- state conflict; and deep political differences existed among the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. Consequently, a modus vivendi was negotiated in 1929 as moderate Church leaders re- jected Catholic military action andas government officials sought a welcome respite in the Revolution's campaign to regulate the Church. The purpose of this study is to reexamine the origins of the Cristero conflict, to identify its goals, and tO explain the strange outcome of the Church-state truce of 1929. Standard scholarly approaches to understanding the Cristero War, based upon the assumption of monolithic Church-state policy, have taken the following tacks. First, the Church's flagrant violation of the law forced the government suppression of unconstitutional practices of worship. 1 Alternatively, the government, searching for a pre- text to crush the Catholic religion, purposefully forced the Cris- teros into rebellion? Recently a third, composite view has de- picted the conflict as "inevitable" since "the lines had been drawn" between two intransigent forces "in agrarian reforms, in *This article is part of a larger study of the Mexican Revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Mary's Parish
    St. Mary’s Parish 2100 E. 20th St., Farmington, N.M. Pastor: Reverend Frank Chacon Parochial Vicar Father Jeff King Deacon James Betts Phone 505-325-0287 Fax 505-564-8515 Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Monday - Friday) Emergency Hospital Calls, please call the office. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.stmarysfmt.org Adoration Chapel: [email protected] Religious Ed: [email protected] Masses: Saturday 5:15pm (Sunday Liturgy) ♦ Sunday 8am, 10:30am and 12:30pm in Spanish Daily Mass: Monday thru Saturday at 8:30am We welcome all new parishioners to our Parish family. Please fill out the form below and place ♦ Confessions: Saturdays 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. it in the collection basket or mail it to the Parish Office at 2100 E. 20th Street, Farmington, NM 87401. Les damos la bienvenida a nuestra Parroquia todos los nuevos feligreses. Favor de llenar la forma debajo y ponerla en la canasta de la co- lecta o mandarla por correo a la oficina de la Parroquia al 2100 E. 20th Street, Farmington, NM 87401. Please print clearly Favor de escribir claramente Name/ Nombre: _____________________________________ Last/ Apellido First/ Primer Physical Address/ Dirección Física: _____________________________________ City, State, Zip/ Ciudad, Estado, Código Postal: _____________________________________ Mailing Address/ Dirección de Correo: _____________________________________ City, State, Zip/ Ciudad, Estado, Código Postal: _____________________________________ Telephone/ Teléfono: _____________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Death with a Bonus Pack. New Age Spirituality, Folk Catholicism, and The
    Archives de sciences sociales des religions 153 | janvier-mars 2011 Prisons et religions en Europe | Religions amérindiennes et New Age Death with a Bonus Pack New Age Spirituality, Folk Catholicism, and the Cult of Santa Muerte Piotr Grzegorz Michalik Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/assr/22800 DOI: 10.4000/assr.22800 ISSN: 1777-5825 Publisher Éditions de l’EHESS Printed version Date of publication: 31 March 2011 Number of pages: 159-182 ISBN: 978-2-71322301-3 ISSN: 0335-5985 Electronic reference Piotr Grzegorz Michalik, « Death with a Bonus Pack », Archives de sciences sociales des religions [Online], 153 | janvier-mars 2011, Online since 26 May 2011, connection on 01 May 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/assr/22800 ; DOI : 10.4000/assr.22800 © Archives de sciences sociales des religions Piotr Grzegorz Michalik Death with a Bonus Pack New Age Spirituality, Folk Catholicism, and the Cult of Santa Muerte Introduction A recent visitor to Mexico is very likely to encounter the striking image of Santa Muerte (Saint Death), a symbol of the cult that has risen to prominence across the country. Hooded, scythe-carrying skeleton bares its teeth at street market stalls, on magazine covers and t-shirts. The new informal saint gains popularity not only in Mexico but also in Salvador, Guatemala and the United States. At the turn of the 21st century, the cult of Santa Muerte was associated almost exclusively with the world of crime: drug dealers, kidnappers and prosti- tutes. Responsibility for this distorted image of the cult laid mostly with biased articles in everyday newspapers such as La Crónica and Reforma.
    [Show full text]
  • Ramon Jrade State University of New York, Binghamton
    INQUIRIES INTO THE CRISTERO INSURRECTION AGAINST THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION* Ramon Jrade State University of New York, Binghamton Interest in the Cristero insurrection against the Mexican Revolu­ tion has continued unabated since the 1960s. Until now all the major published studies have viewed the rebellion as the climactic outcome of the long-standing conflict between church and state in Mexico. 1 By adopting this perspective, these works have deepened knowledge of church-state relations and sharply delineated the composition and de­ velopment of Catholic and revolutionary factions. At the same time, these studies have offered a wide range of interpretations of the Cristero movement, interpretations that are incompatible with one another. This article examines the published works on the church-state conflict and the Cristero insurrection. Its aim is to show that their com­ peting interpretations of the uprisings derive from shared assumptions that entail assigning responsibility for the violent struggle to one or more of the contending groups and, with one exception, imputing a religious motive to the rural rebels. The article also examines two re­ cently published studies that focus more narrowly on the Cristero stronghold of the Los Altos region of Jalisco. The final section proposes an alternative line of inquiry that relies on a comparative approach to set aside existing contradictions and to place the Cristero phenomenon in its proper context. A principal concern of the major studies has been to reconstruct a sequence of events that subsumes under the church-state conflict the outbreak and termination of the violent struggle in specific sections of the countryside.
    [Show full text]
  • Mexican Folk Medicine and Folk Beliefs
    MEXICANMEXICAN FOLKFOLK MEDICINEMEDICINE ANDAND FOLKFOLK BELIEFSBELIEFS CuranderismoCuranderismo yy yerbasyerbas MedicinalesMedicinales EliseoEliseo ““CheoCheo”” Torres,Torres, UniversityUniversity Administrator,Administrator, Professor,Professor, AuthorAuthor www.unm.edu/~cheo/Cheo’s folk healing page.htm TraditionalTraditional MexicanMexican HealingHealing CertificateCertificate ProgramProgram OfferedOffered throughthrough thethe CenterCenter forfor ContinuingContinuing Education,Education, UniversityUniversity ofof NewNew MexicoMexico First certificate program of its kind in the U.S. 9-10 modules totaling 400 hours Instructors are healers and faculty from Mexico City area and Cuernavaca, Mexico Hands-on curriculum will provide participants with knowledge and skills used by traditional folk healers, including diagnosing illness, preparing natural medicines, identifying and using medicinal plants, massage therapy, iridology, etc. Certificate continues to be offered through University of New Mexico’s Continuing Education program For further information, please visit: www.unm.edu/~cheo/Cheo’s folk healing page.htm Book:Book: Curandero:Curandero: AA LifeLife inin MexicanMexican FolkFolk HealingHealing This book about my life and research in curanderismo is now available through the University of New Mexico Press. You can order it through my website, or by going to the UNM press website, or by getting an order form from me after class. My website: www.unm.edu/~cheo/Cheo’s folk healing page.htm UNM Press ordering page: http://www.unmpress.com/Book .php?id=10546036839987 Book:Book: HealingHealing withwith HerbsHerbs andand Rituals:Rituals: AA MexicanMexican TraditionTradition This book about herbs and rituals used in Mexican Folk Healing is now available through the University of New Mexico Press. You can order it through my website, or by going to the UNM press website, or by getting an order form from me after class.
    [Show full text]