Revision of author's thesis (doctoral)--University of California, Berkeley, 2002, titled "Medicinal histories" : Puerto Rican women's writings in the United States. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Introduction. "La cultural cura": healing historical absences -- The making of a curandera historian: Aurora Levins Morales -- Double victory for Puerto Rican women too: Nicholasa Mohr's Nilda -- Mending broken memories: Judith Ortiz Cofer's Silent dancing: a partial -- Remembrance of a Puerto Rican childhood -- "Degrees of puertoricanness": Esmeralda Santiago's When I was Puerto Rican -- Conclusion. Who tells your story?: situating diasporican women's literature.
Summary:
"Using an interdisciplinary approach, Healing Memories analyzes the ways that Puerto Rican women authors use their literary works to challenge historical methodologies that have silenced the historical experiences of Puerto Rican women in the United States. Following Aurora Levins Morales's alternative historical methodology she calls 'curandera history,' this work analyzes the literary work of authors, including Aurora Levins Morales, Nicholasa Mohr, Esmeralda Santiago, and Judith Ortiz Cofer, and the ways they create medicinal histories that not only document the experiences of migrant women but also heal the trauma of their erasure from mainstream national history. Each analytical chapter focuses on the various methods used by each author including using the literary space as an archive, reclaiming memory, and (re)writing cultural history, all through a feminist lens that centers the voices and experiences of Puerto Rican women"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.