Time	Annotation	Layer
2:35 - 4:01	One of the problems in the past, the way anthropologists have looked at Native medicine and folk medicine is that they believe the majority of medicine is magical and religious and superstitious. And they have underestimated for a very long time the powers of observation and actually what an intimate knowledge of nature Native people who live very close to nature have. One of the impetus then to change this around was the fact that there are a number of ethnobotanists, people who investigate how Native peoples classified plants botanically. And they found out that, for instance, in Mexico, that Siltal, which is a Maya group, could classify very sophisticated classifications of several thousand plants, which they could classify accurately and repetitiously, which was very astounding for most botanists because they did not think that Native people could do this kind of thing. The other thing that also prompted the reevaluation is the fact that when the hippie generation came about 20 years ago and people started using a lot of hallucinogens, they found that every hallucinogen that the Aztec said was active was, in fact, active. There were 100% on hallucinogens once he got the correct botanical identification. And so therefore, why would it be that they knew exactly which plants were hallucinogenic and then they couldn't tell anything else about other plants?	Discussing the the intersections between medicinal botany and Native-based plant medicinal knowlege with Mesoamerican indigenous peoples like Maya and Mexica.
1:28 - 2:34	We all adhere in some respects to notions of folk remedies, chicken soup when you have a cold, hold your breath when you have the hiccups. Whether or not these remedies, our parents have passed onto us really work depend on our beliefs in them. And when they do work, we refer to them again and pass them on to our children. In a similar way, Chicanos have preserved notions of folk cures. Curanderismo today is based on the most advanced practices of 15th and 16th centuries. In Europe, the Hippocratic doctrine transmitted to Spain by the Moors was the most predominant medical theory. According to the Greek philosopher Hippocrates, the body was divided into four humors, each of which had two basic properties: hot or cold, wet or dry. The Europeans also had an elaborate system of herb classification. And when they arrived in Mexico, these combined with similar notions of medicine prevalent in the Aztec civilization. Dr. Bernard Ortiz de Montellano directs the Chicano-Boricua Center at Wayne State University in Michigan. He's also a chemist who has extensively studied Aztec herb usages.	Establishing a background on the origins of curanderismo or folk medicine for Chicana/o/xs
4:02 - 4:56	Also, there's some evidence that they did some experimental work in terms of the experimented. This is not with the Aztec. This is in Colombia. But a friend of mine is a phytochemist, somebody studies the chemistry of plants. Spent a long season with a curandero in Colombia up a river called the Putumayo Region. And he found that this curandero kept monkeys around, that he seemed to be experimenting with the monkeys, giving drugs to the monkeys to see what effects they would do, which is very advanced because monkeys are the best animal model of humans that we have and we use at the final stage in testing drugs. Before humans, we use monkeys. And so that's very sophisticated. We have some indications that the Aztecs also did some research and investigations in plants in an experimental, empirical way, not just a magical approach.	Further explanation on experiments conducted with medicinal plants by indigenous peoples with Putumayo regions of Colombia and Mexica people in the past.
0:06 - 0:34	My grandmother taught me that nobody had the power, only God. But the people call you that you have the power. And a lot of people say that I have the power and I get mad because I tell them, "Don't say that because I'm not God." But to my opinion, I believe that I can do mostly what they ask me to do. Only if you were born with something like a magic little stick inside of you, you can do mostly anything you want to.	Hook/Lede
0:35 - 1:16	The sign on her door read, "Sorry, we're closed." But inside her flower shop, Dolores Estrella is treating the sick or troubled who travel miles to see her. She's a curandera, or folk healer, housed in the midst of a Chicano barrio. Along with the hundreds of curanderos in this country, Mrs. Estrella is practicing ancient Spanish and Aztec medicine. I'm Linda Fregoso. Curanderismo today coexist with modern scientific medicine. But for those who practice the system of healing and for those who use it, curanderismo is just as scientific because, like modern medicine, curanderismo works. In this program, I'll talk with the curandera and with two people who've studied the ancient folk medicine.	Introduction of Ms. Estrella and her training in Mexican and Spanish holistic healing practices.
1:17 - 1:27	[Music interlude]	Music interlude of folk-inspired music
0:01 - 0:05	From Communications Center, the University of Texas at Austin, this is The Mexican American Experience.	Program opening
4:57 - 5:19	As a chemist, Dr. Ortiz focuses on the chemical composition of Aztec herbs, but he's also studied Aztec beliefs about the causes of illnesses. Dr. Ortiz says that the Aztecs knew what results an herb would produce. And because the Aztecs believed that fever was caused by an excess of hot phlegm, they would give the patient an herb which was a diuretic.	Provides context for the breadth of Ortiz's knowledge regarlding plant medicine and spiritual knowledge systems.