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The Mexican American Sobador, Convergent Disease Discourse, And Pain Validation In South Texas, Servando Z. Hinojosa

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper examines how Mexican American sobadores (folk manual therapists) provide needed health services to South Texas residents. Operating in a region with high levels of workplace injuries, chronic disease, and low levels of insuredness, sobadores offer a kind of attention that is appealing in terms of cost, accessibility, and cultural familiarity. The latter is particularly evident with respect to two factors: convergent ethnophysiological discourse and pain validation. Injured people can approach the sobador with minimal trepidation, in part, because sobadores and clients have shared ways of talking about the body and disease. Clients can also expect that sobadores will …