By Sarah Natchipolsky 

While medicine is often thought of as a practice rooted in science, the humanities can be intertwined in the medical field in many forms. 

Four University of Maryland professors gathered for a panel discussion on Oct. 10 to share how they’ve found this to be true in their own research. 

Chantel Rodriguez, an assistant professor in history spoke on her exploration of the tradition of Curanderismo in New Mexico. She described Curanderismo as a practice of physical and spiritual healing present in Latinx cultures that involves homeopathic remedies, rituals, prayer and other traditional methods.

Rodriguez visited a community of healers in Albuquerque to study the culture. She found that one of their concerns was that Western doctors tend to dismiss Curanderismo as pseudoscience and “black magic.” But the healers insist that there is a scientific basis to their treatments.

“They want the public … to recognize that Curanderismo is a legitimate health practice,” Rodriguez said. 

She noted that the healers understand the limits of their medicine, yet Western doctors refuse to do the same.

“If someone with a severe kidney infection goes to a curandero, the curandero is going to tell them to go to a Western doctor,” Rodriguez said. “But a Western doctor would never tell a patient to go see the curandero down the street.”

One of the struggles Curanderismo faced in the past was the colonization of areas where the practice was common. When the United States and Spain conquered Mexico and other territories, they violently imposed Westernization on the natives. As a result, Curanderismo was suppressed. 

“In reclaiming their past and taking back their history, this was about empowerment for them, but it was also about healing,” Rodriguez said.

Brice Bowrey, a history Ph.D. student, attended the panel to broaden his understanding of how medicine and humanities can be combined. 

“I have a background in both a social science field and a more humanities-ish field with an interest in medicine, but I’ve never really been exposed to medical humanities as a field or concept,” Bowrey said. “So I thought coming here today would be a good opportunity to learn more.”

Bowrey said he was particularly interested in the historical aspect of the presentations.

“I think the history of medicine can tell us a lot about the reason why medicine is in the state it’s in today.”

Andrew Schonebaum, an associate professor of Chinese literature on the panel, discussed how works of fiction were used to learn about medicine in the past.

Schonebaum explained that novels were not just considered fictional forms of entertainment by some Chinese healers throughout the past. Remedies found in these novels were used to treat various ailments, with some documented success.

Allison Gibeily, an English graduate student, found that Schonebaum’s presentation aligned closely with her interests.

“I’m really interested in looking at how medicine is represented in literature,” Gibeily said. “I really liked hearing about Chinese medicine being turned into literature, cures being written in a very literary way … I thought [Schonebaum’s] information was super relevant for me.”

Mehl Penrose, an associate professor of Spanish and the moderator of the panel said that the College of Arts and Humanities hopes to host more discussions and events in the future related to the medical humanities.

Featured photo courtesy of Sarah Natchipolsky.