Mesoamerican Experiences of Illness and Healing

The sixteenth-century encounter between Mesoamericans and Europeans resulted in a tremendous loss of life in indigenous communities and significantly impacted their health and healing strategies. Contributors to this special issue of Ethnohistory address how indigenous people experienced bodily health in the wake of this encounter. By exploring archival indigenous and Spanish language documents, contributors address how bodily health was experienced in the wake of the European encounter and uncover transformations of health discourses and experiences of illness. They also investigate eclectic healing practices and medical chants; changing notions of the causes of illnesses; and the language of cleansing ceremonies, bone-setting, midwifery, and maternal medicine.
 
Rebecca Dufendach is a research associate at the Getty Research Institute.
 
Contributors: Sabina Cruz de la Cruz, Rebecca Dufendach, Servando Hinojosa, Timothy W. Knowlton, Gabrielle Vail, Edber Dzidz Yam