Medicine Stories: History, Culture and the Politics of Integrity

by Aurora Levins Morales

Drawing vibrant connections between the colonization of whole nations, the health of the mountainsides and the abuse of individual women, children and men, Medicine Stories offers the paradigm of integrity as a political model to people who hunger for a world of justice, health and love.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Disability, Feminism, Medicine, Science

135 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Aurora Morales]

South End Press sent out a call for manuscripts to selected writers in late 1997 or early 1998. I was in the middle of finishing my book Remedios, and consulted my other and collaborator about whether to take it on. She said to do it, but not worry, to write a B+ book not strive for A+. As a result, I wrote it easily, without anxiety, and have been astonished at how widely it is read, quoted and used by young activists exploring the politics of trauma and healing, the meaning and uses of historical memory and other issues I write about in this essay collection.

[William Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But abuse is the local eruption of systemic oppression, and oppression the accumulation of millions of small systematic abuses."

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medicine Stories serves up a hefty dose of soul-stirring wisdom that empowers us to dream up new futures. Morales' ability to capture such a well-rounded scope of interconnected histories and ideas had me head-nodding and poetry-snapping until the very last page.

(Note: Originally published in the late '90s, so expect some dated language here.)

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora Levins Morales, a long time feminist and anti-racism activist has put together a series of essays that are poignantly written and speak of both the personal and political experiences of oppression in an integrated way. Born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father, Morales explores and extends her multiple identities as Latina, Jew, a woman of privilege, a woman of color, feminist and abuse survivor. In her first essay she draws a connection between abuse and oppression that is stunningly clear in its simplicity. As she tells her own stories - medicine stories, that is stories of healing - you hear your own story reflected. She deals with racism, sexism, abuse, language, privilege, sexuality and many other topics in this thin but potent book.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I looked at healing, complex intersectionality, and trauma. I've read it so many times...and never have it too far from my fingertips. x

[Zoe]

thank you aurora! this book is so dog-eared and marked-up! i love all the earthy metaphors and the way she subtly and beautifully reframes things i've been thinking about for awhile. it was also perfect tisha b'av reading. gonna cull some of my favorite bits

- "my ability to think and imagine is a resource belonging to the commons, of which i am a steward." how can i approach my own writing and creativity through this lens?
- the chapters on medicinal history are so applicable to storytelling/writing in general too - which is rlly cool bc she's showing how history not just is but MUST be constructed, just like any other story. wld be interesting to put these ideas in conversation with amb's tenets of visionary fiction. am feeling inspired by this to do some sort of creative medicinal rewrite of my family history
- night flying! be a witch! fly on your broom! witness it all! "night flying requires a willingness to leave familiar ground and see what is meant to be hidden, a willingness to be transformed"
- similarly, i love how she is so invested in investigating personal inheritance in a honest, rigorous, and politicized way: "to investigate the details of our family, local and ethnic histories...is an act of spiritual and political integrity to own and acknowledge the precise nature of this inheritance"
- background on neem on pg 123.....which we have been using on the baby trees....apparently it comes from the Indian neem tree whose oil was used for thousands of years by peasant women but was then patented by a huge pharmaceutical company....yikes
- so intrigued by the Inquisition survivors who became pirates that she talks abt on pg 162 - jewish pirates?!?!?
- my favorite essay was the one abt ecology & landownership and the constant movement of the land. the land itself is diasporic!
- i LOVED this quote from her father: "any time progressive causes seem to be in conflict, it's because neither group is asking enough. because no one has been able to imagine a solution big enough to meet everyone's needs." while the skeptical part of me is squinting my eyes at this a little, i rlly think that this is true and beautiful and i want to chew on it more when working through the thorniness of coalition and solidarity work

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora Levins Morales writes with such intimacy that the reader feels her strength, her resilience, her story that I finished the book inspired to write. She reminds us that the practice of our cultures is revolutionary and a needed tool to resist the "other" placed upon each of us. A short book, but take your time to take in each essay. You will not regret it.

[Sascha Altman-DuBrul · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my current guidebook to life

[Miriam Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply excellent, wide ranging and profoundly applicable essays.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring reflections on cultural influence. Well articulated.
“Earth-centered cultures everywhere held our kinship with land and animals and plants as core knowledge, central to living. The land had to be soaked with blood and that knowledge, those cultures shattered, before private ownership could be erected. It wasn’t just theft.”
“…it is no longer useful to…keep defining and elaborating our understandings of the exact nature of racism, sexism, class and sexual orientation as if they ever operated in isolation.
“Love is subversive, undermining the propaganda of narrow self-interest. Love emphasizes connection, responsibility and the joy we take in each other. Therefore love (as opposed to unthinking devotion) is a danger to the status quo and we have been taught to find it embarrassing.”

[Neal Spadafora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been teaching this book for a class on Global Feminism and it is a great pedagogical tool. Morales' work is accessible and is a great introduction to a variety of feminism that students find convincing. There are some substantive disagreements I have with Morales, but by and large the politics in this book are of the right type and it provides a meaningful path to get students to stop thinking like liberals.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

buy this book & support the author!

i learned so much from an anti zionist jewish perspective (finally) and the life of a jew of color. great reflections and extensions from this bridge.

easy to read and conceptualize, a great book for radicals & activists to have in ur collection

tw: child sex trafficking, anti semitism, racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, discussion of violence, discussion of cancer

[Debmeinke · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book written over 20 years ago, the topics and the author's views are still terribly relevant to the world today. White people have chosen not to learn much, sadly.

[Lawrence]

on loan from nadav and mikaela

[ayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

these stories were indeed a medicine

[Aimen · Rating 1 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book. it helped me articulate and bring together my own thoughts about trauma, collectivity, and organising. however, what continually bothered me through out the book was the lack of grounded mention of Palestine and the occupation it faces at the hands of Israel. there were two mentions in the book, which i felt didn’t do justice especially given the discussion of US empire, land dispossession, and how trauma of the tormentors leads to the trauma of their targets. this is also apparent when one looks at the index, a single story from Pakistan got a mention in the index but Palestine isn’t indexed while Israel gets a mention as well. this book has a lot of medicine and teaching in it but given the themes it discusses Palestine and the pain of its people is given no space at all.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book on why history is so essential. The Historian as Curandera is an amazing essay. Morales urges us to view history as a way to build hope for marginalized folk, making for better movement building. She also argues that we embrace the complexity of our own personal histories as well as those of our peoples.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg. So amazing. Everyone should read this book!

[Victoria Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost a year later, the copy I reserved at the library finally came in (along with Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck, which I reserved a day or so ago).

[Caitlin]

I didn't get too far into this before I had to return it but what I read was fantastic. Will definitely pick it up again soon.

[Lisa]

like new inscription inside