The purpose of this archive on traditional medicine of Mexico, Latin America and the U.S. Southwest is to document, promote and inform students, researchers and the community about the current efforts in Curanderismo traditional medicine for reclaiming this ancestral medicine.

This archive was created by Dr. Eliseo “Cheo” Torres and Dr. Mario Del Angel-Guevara, faculty in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of New Mexico. The archive provides audiovisual materials such as photographs, video interviews, video demonstrations and video lectures featuring male and female traditional healers (curanderos and curanderas), scholars and researchers on this topic from Mexico, the United States and other countries.

The archive is part of the UNM Curanderismo traditional medicine program, whose mission is to foster the reclaiming of ancestral concepts of holistic health and the integration of culturally-responsive concepts and healing methods into modern allopathic medicine in the United States such as it has been successfully integrated in countries like Mexico, China and India. The purpose of the integration is the inclusion of people in need of culture healing and those who do not have access to the profit-based health care system in the United States in order to provide the population with more options for health care.

The Curanderismo traditional medicine program was created by Dr. Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, former Vice President for student affairs at the University of New Mexico, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. Dr. Mario Del Angel-Guevara is co-director of the Curanderismo program together with Dr. Eliseo Torres. Both Professors received their education on traditional medicine in Cuernavaca, Mexico, school CEDEHC, a training institute on Mexican traditional medicine. The program currently offers five free online courses to students world-wide through The University of New Mexico.