Remedios : stories of earth and iron from the history of Puertorriqueñas / Aurora Levins Morales.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levins Morales, Aurora, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Literary collections.

Women.

Puerto Rican women--Literary collections.

Puerto Rican women.

Women--Crimes against.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xxxvi, 235 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Beacon Press, [1998]

Summary:

Replete with herbal lore and tales of heroines whose work and words have sustained generations, Remedios offers the curative history of the many women--and cultures--who have met at the crossroads of the island of Puerto Rico. Beginning with the First Mother in sub-Saharan Africa more than 200,000 years ago, Aurora Levins Morales takes us on a journey through time and around the globe. We learn of Juana de Asbaje, author of the "Reply to Sor Filotea" in 1693, the first feminist essay written in the New World; Gracia Nasi, Constantinople's "Queen of the Jews"; the warrior of words Ida B. Wells; and the resilience of Ethel Rosenberg.

Yet the nature of the healing narrative is not limited to the lives of others. Bearing witness to a much larger history of abuse and resistance by women and men, Levins Morales weaves in her own story of pain and healing, the horror of abuse, ameliorated through the restorative power of memory.

Enriched with explanations of the medicinal properties of herbs and foods such as rosemary, ginkgo, and banana, Remedios revives our connection to the forgotten lore of our grandmothers. With love, joy, and defiance, Levins Morales offers us Remedios as a testimony to those barely recorded or known to history, the women who shaped our world.

Contents:

Agradecimientos xvii

Preface Yerba Bruja xxiii

Introduction Revision xxxi

Bisabuelas

Gingko 1

First Mother

Sub-Saharan Africa: -200,000 1

Women of Yams

West Africa: -50,000 to 200 3

-50,000: Kindling

African Continent 3

-8,000: Forests

Nigeria 4

Wild Yam 5

-4,000: Colors

West Africa 6

-2,000 to 0: Bantu Women Cut Bananas

Africa 6

Banana Peel 7

200: Salt

Northwest Africa 7

Women of Bread

The Mediterranean: -12,000 to -1,500 8

-12,000: The Deer Mother

El Juyo, Spain 8

-6,500: The Peaceful Land

Southeastern Europe 10

-6,000: Pig Mother

Europe 12

-3,500: Mare's Milk

Ukraine 13

-2,700 to -2,000: Deserts

North Africa 15

-1,500: Cutting

Northeast Africa 16

Morivivi 18

Scars 19

Women of Yuca

America: -15,000 to 500 20

-15,000: Pikimachay

The Andes 20

Potatoes 21

-4,000: Rainforests

Upper Amazon and Orinoco Basins 22

-4,000: Corn

MesoAmerica 23

-1,000 to 500: Temples

Central and North America 24

Tobacco 24

0: City Girls: Teotihuacan, Mexico 25

0 to 500: Turtle Women, Women of Trees

The Caribbean 26

Abuelas

West African Women: 600 to 1400 27

600 to 1400: Market Women

West Africa 27

700: Not All Tribes Build Upward Toward the Sky

Nigeria 28

600 to 1400: Slave Road

Africa 29

1352: Ibn Batuta Writes Home

Mali 30

1440: People, Pepper, Ivory, Gold

West Africa 31

American Women: 700 to 1400 32

700: Mayas

MesoAmerica 32

975: Against the Knife

Mexico 32

1000: Bone and Hair and Shard

North America 33

1400: Caciques

Boriken 34

Mediterranean Women: 600 to 1400 35

620: Arabian Nights

Arabian Peninsula 35

900 to 1300: Bread, Oil, Wine

Christian Spain 38

Olive Oil 40

900 to 1200: Poets of Al-Andalus

Muslim Spain 41

1097: Fire at the Gates

Syria 43

900 to 1400: Juderias

Iberian Peninsula 44

Pomegranates 46

1350: Working Santiago de Compostela

Galicia, Spain 46

Premonitions 47

1478: Unfortunate Isles

Canary Islands 47

1482: Elmina Castle

Ghana 48

1487: Maleus Maleficarum

Germany 49

1490: Stolen Women 50

Bad Dreams: The Prophets Speak

The Americas 51

1490: Guabancex Stirs the Pot

Boriken 52

Calendars 53

Discovery

Huracan: 1492-1600

Bitters 64

1492: Penetration 64

1492: Lamento sefardita

Spain 66

Romero 66

1493 to 1511: Leyendas

Puerto Rico 67

1509 to 1521: La Marcaida

Cuba and Mexico 77

1514: Manikongo Affonso's School for Bakongo Girls

Kongo, West Africa 79

1515: Toa 80

1515: Pinones 82

1515: Pinon Shopping List 83

1515: Platano 83

1515: Naborias

The Names of the Captives 84

1519: The Speckled Death

Central America and the Caribbean 86

Alegria 87

1525: Snakeskin

Mexico 88

1526: Conejo's Brothel

San Juan, Puerto Rico 89

1534: Slave Mothers

Puerto Rico 90

1547: Limpieza

The Spanish Empire 92

1550: Conversas at the Stake

Lorca, Spain 93

Calendula 95

1560: Jigonsaseh

New York State 95

1563: Indiera 96

1564: Dona Gracia

Europe and the Ottoman Empire 97

1575: Teresa de Avila Counts Demons 99

1592: Flames

Puerto Rico 100

Jenjibre: 1600-1699

1600: Catalina Steals Away

Spain and Panama 103

1605: A Seed Falls in Pernambuco

Brazil 104

1606: Caribes 105

1607: Wild West 106

1608: Gingerbread

San Juan de Puerto Rico and England 107

Ginger 107

1618: Nzinga's Stool

Angola 108

1618: Witches' Stool

Western Europe 109

1623: Ana de Mendoza Unpacks

San Juan de Puerto Rico 110

1625: S/he

Latin America 111

1629: Manahatta

Mouth of the Hudson River 113

1630: The Weavers of Dean

England 115

1635: Playa Boqueron 115

1636: I Believe It Is No Sin

Galicia 116

1640: Paula de Eguiluz

Colombia 117

1647: Stuyvesant

New Amsterdam 118

1648: The House of Peace 119

1650: On the Road to Veracruz

Mexico 119

1663: Nzinga, the Warrior Queen

Angola 121

1664: Decree 122

1694: The Death of Palmares

Brazil 123

Llanten 123

1695: News of Sor Juana

Mexico 124

1695: The Weavers of Tayasal

Guatemala 125

Parteras: 1700-1798

1700: The Forests Sail East

New England 127

White Pine 127

1701: The Country of Women 128

1706: Beatrice of Kongo

Central Africa 129

1714: Cangrejos 130

1720: Cecilia Ortiz 131

1728: Nannytown

Jamaica 132

1736: The First Cafeto 133

1741: Many-Headed Hydra

New York 134

1748: Escapees

St. Croix 134

1765: The Song of the Forest 135

1777: If Fray Inigo Had a Sister 136

1786: Parbulos 137

1788: Reverse Slavery

Ste. Domingue 139

Anamu 140

Lazos: 1798-1898

Melao 141

1804: News from Haiti 141

1817: War Widows 142

Yerba Buena 143

1820: Maestra Cordero 144

1824: We Treated Them Well 145

1824: Runaways 147

1825: Flora Tristan Reads in Bed

Paris, France 148

1833: Maria Bibiana Writes 149

1833: Voyages

Peru 150

1833: Maria Barbanera 151

1834: Autos de Anti-Fe

Spain 152

Yellow Dock 153

1844: Some Lives Burn Like Quick Flame

France 154

1868: Francisca Brignoni 154

1873: The Freedwomen Contract Themselves 155

1875: Campos de soledad

Galicia, Spain 156

1880: Tortures

Tennessee and Puerto Rico 157

1886: Damas 158

1895: Charcas, or, the True Story of Cafe au Lait 158

1897: Luisa in Love 159

1895: Mercedes a caballo 160

1898 to 1900: Guabancex Again 160

Aguacero: 1899-1929

1899: Ghost Dancing 162

1900: Civilization

Europe 165

1901: The Death Train

Southwestern United States 165

1903: Postcards of Colonialism 166

1909: La otra Aurora 167

Ruda 168

1909: Lessons 168

1913: Opiniones 169

1914: Delmira

Montevideo, Uruguay 171

1917: War Effort 172

1918: Lavenderas 172

1918: Vida alegre 173

Maguey 174

1919: Lost Bird

Western United States 174

1921: Harlem

New York 176

1923: Tuberculosis 176

Mullein 177

1927: Pasodoble 178

1929: Journey 178

1929: Hechos desconocidos 179

Derrumbe: 1930-1954

1930: El barrio 181

1931: Tiempo muerto 182

Malanga 183

1933: Pura Belpre

New York 183

1934: Needleworkers 184

1935: Bread upon the Waters 185

1935: Julia in Naranjito 187

Naranja 188

1937: The Jane Speed Bookstore

Birmingham, Alabama 188

1937: Madre patria 189

1942: Wartime at the PO

New York 190

1943: The Ghetto Comes to the Barrio

New York 191

1944: Nuestra guerra

New York 192

1948: Julia Drinks a River of Sorrow

New York 193

1950: Threads

New York, Puerto Rico, Illinois 194

1950: Stories 196

1953: No nascas

Puerto Rico and the United States 198

1953: The Bad Mother

New York 200

1953: 105th and Fifth Avenue

New York 201

1953: Dime Capitan 202

1954: Freedom Songs 204

Milk Thistle 204

1954: Transition 205

La Botanica (Sources) 209

Glossary of Selected Words 229

Medicine Cabinet 232

Index of Historical Persons 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page [232]) and index.

ISBN:

0807065161

OCLC:

38886241