Comparison & Contrast of the Training of Mexican American Traditional Healers with Western Philosophy

Helen Tafoya-Barraza, MA, LPCCUNM Psychiatric Center – Psychosocial Rehabilitation

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association of NM, June 12, 2014

Primary Theorists/Information Sources

Albert Bandura

Carl Rogers

Sylvia Ledesma

Lev Vygotsky

Albert Ellis

Differences vs Similarities

La Maestra Sylvia LedesmaFounder of the Kalpulli

Izkalli (community of traditional healers based in the South Valley)

Practicing traditional healer/curandera

Teacher/MentorLifetime Social Justice &

community activist

Some of her teachersHer grandmotherHer motherSeñor UribeEl Maestro Andres SeguraNana ValdezLa Jefa Josefina

They taught, she learnedStory tellingConversationsReading, reading some moreObservation/modelingMinimal note takingExperiential learning which

includes practice and learning on a Spiritual level

Her primary mentor/teacher was

el Maestro Andres Segura

He would encourage her to learn from other healersThey would travel together throughout the United

States, Mexico and South AmericaShe was rarely allowed to take notesShe was told, “keep your eyes and your ears open.’He encouraged her to read everythingHe encouraged her to question everything

La Maestra Sylvia’s perspectiveLearning in this matter, without notes, forces one to

learn at a deeper levelTo integrate the informationTo make the information a part of youTo learn to trust one’s Spirit Guides & one’s instinctsOne learns to transcend to another placeTo see with a “different lens”Study is never done, “one cannot learn it all”

Information & knowledge grows in concentric circles out,

always expanding

Does not refer to herself as a “curandera”

To do so is owning a powerful identitySees herself as an (advanced) apprenticeIn learning mode from her teachers that are

still aliveStill apprenticing to her teachers & her Spirit

GuidesTo call oneself a curandera, does that mean

you are alone? That you no longer have your guides?

The comparison with Western thought seems clear

Traditional healers employ an apprenticeship modelRely heavily on modeling and observation (Bandura)“A person cannot teach another person directly; a

person can only facilitate another's learning (Rogers)Notion of the Perpetual student Social interaction with members of one’s own

community (Vygotsky)Learning from a More Knowledgeable Other

(Vygotsky)Reciprocal Determination (Bandura)

Apprenticeship Model

Having a master teacherWorking with a master teacher in a

variety of contextsLearning from a variety of teachersIncreasing level of responsibility as

learner acquires knowledgeReading, reading and reading some

moreAsking questions

ContrastEmphasis on learning “at a

deeper level”Minimal note takingTeaching & learning by story

tellingEmphasis on seeking guidance

from one’s Spirit GuidesLearning to trust one’s intuitionLearning is never completed

(goes beyond CEUs)Deep humility

Additional thoughtsIn traditional practices teaching and learning are

considered sacredApprentices learn not just to gain knowledge but to

gain healthIn this way, education, gaining knowledge from

whatever the information source, is an exercise in self-healing

This is very much a social justice perspectiveThese goals in traditional healing are rarely

discussed in Western pedagogy

Sylvia models an age old method of passing on knowledge

Knowledge is integrated at a higher (or deeper) levelIn this way she heals herself.In this way she heals others

ReferencesBandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice Hall.Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1989). Cognitive

apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/9107/mod_resource/content/1/Collins%20report.pdf

Rogers, Carl (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Constable.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman., Eds.) (A. R. Luria, M. Lopez-Morillas & M. Cole [with J. V. Wertsch], Trans.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Original manuscripts [ca. 1930-1934]) Reprinted in (1997) (M, Gauvain & M Cole, Eds.) Readings on the Development of Children, Retrieved from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/vygotsky78.pdf