religions Article “Are You Sure, Sweetheart, That You Want to Be Well?”: The Politics of Mental Health and Long-Suffering in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters Belinda Waller-Peterson English Department, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA 18018, USA;
[email protected] Received: 14 February 2019; Accepted: 9 April 2019; Published: 12 April 2019 Abstract: In analyzing the woman-centered communal healing ceremony in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters, this article considers how these types of womb-like spaces allow female protagonists to access ancestral and spiritual histories that assist them in navigating physical illnesses and mental health crises. It employs Bell Hooks’ Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery alongside Arthur Kleinman’s definition of illness as social and transactional to demonstrate that the recognition of illness, and the actualization of wellness, necessitates collective and communal efforts informed by spiritual and cultural modes of knowledge, including alternative healing practices and ancestral mediation. Keywords: health; healing; ancestral mediation; illness; activism; women’s rights Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters (1980) opens with a seemingly simple question posed by Minnie Ransom, a healer: “Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?” Minnie returns to this question in various iterations throughout the novel in order to assist the troubled protagonist in finding her own definition of wellness within her turbulent life. The Salt Eaters centralizes the problem of illness and the actualization of wellness within a setting that necessitates the presence of medical caregivers, healers, the ill person, and members of their community. In doing so, Bambara creates a symbiotic model that thrives on the dynamic interface between these groups.