A Writer as a Curandera and Writing as a Healing Process in the Fiction of Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros and Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Mgr. Lucie Krpalová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This thesis examines the similarities between the role of a Mexican folk healer, a curandera, and a writer, as well as the links between the art of healing and writing. I treat the subject from various angles, including anthropology, sociology, psychology and comparative literary analysis. I analyze the novels and short stories of three Chicano writers – Rudolfo Anaya, Alicia Gaspar de Alba and Sandra Cisneros. While all of them deal with certain aspects of writing and storytelling as a healing process, the first two also feature healers as the main characters. My argument is that curanderas share many features, processes and practices with contemporary Chicano writers, for both a curandera’s healing and the act of writing are in essence holistic processes aimed at achieving greater balance and psychological integrity.

Abstract:

This thesis examines the similarities between the role of a Mexican folk healer, a curandera, and a writer, as well as the links between the art of healing and writing. I treat the subject from various angles, including anthropology, sociology, psychology and comparative literary analysis. I analyze the novels and short stories of three Chicano writers – Rudolfo Anaya, Alicia Gaspar de Alba and Sandra Cisneros. While all of them deal with certain aspects of writing and storytelling as a healing process, the first two also feature healers as the main characters. My argument is that curanderas share many features, processes and practices with contemporary Chicano writers, for both a curandera’s healing and the act of writing are in essence holistic processes aimed at achieving greater balance and psychological integrity.

Keywords

curandera, healing, writing, writer, healer, holistic, Chicano, Alba, Anaya, Cisneros

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 26. 1. 2009

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 1. 2009
• Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature