The Mexican American Experience, a radio program produced by the Longhorn Radio Network, includes interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns. Program summary: Richard Goodman provides a brief overview of Mexican-American folklore. Goodman defines folklore as the common values and unofficial heritage of a people. Folklore can be stories, legends, proverbs, superstitions and songs. Goodman discusses these subgenres and provides brief examples. Stories usually convey moral principles, but they might also be for pure entertainment. Legends relate tales of good and bad men, or tragic characters like La Llorona, the woman who weeps nightly for her lost children. Proverbs or dichos are a form of folk poetry that offers cultural wisdom and advice. Superstitions are beliefs that can be traced to ancient Spain or old Mexico, and offer suggestions for avoiding harm. When they do fall ill with diseases of physical or spiritual nature, Mexican Americans often turn to curanderos, or folk curers. Corridos—or ballads—are another form of folklore that retells historical episodes from the Mexican American point of view. Keywords: Allá en el rancho grande, Americo Paredes, Anglo hostility, Bilingual culture, Border, Brujas, Campesinos, Chihuahua, Corrido, Corridos, Cotula, Curanderos, Curing, Dichos, Evil eye, Fear, Fermina Guerra, Folk Cures, Folk diseases, Folklore, Folklore, Ghost Stories, Goliad, Gregorio Cortez, Horses, Illness, Josefina Negli, Juanita Stroud Phillips, La Grulla, La Llorona, Laredo, Laura Leann Parker, Legend, Leisure, Literature, Los Bandidos de Norias, Los Fresnos, Mal de Ojo, Mare, Masculinity, Medical Knowledge, Mexican American Authors, middle class, Migration, Miriam Webb Hiester, Music, Myth, Popular history, Proverbs, Rangers, Raymond Paredes, Rebecca W. Smith, Sheriff, Social history, South Texas, Superstitions, Susto, Texas Outlook, Trickery, Trickster, Witchcraft, With His Pistol in His Hand. Broadcast date: 1976-10-28.
Creator/Contributor:
Longhorn Radio Network (creator) and Goodman, Richard (host)
Date Created/Date Issued:
10/22/1976
Owning Repository:
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin
sound recordings, grabaciones sonoras, radio programs, programas de radio, and Audio
Extent:
14 minutes, 49 seconds
Rights - Use and Reproduction:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Language:
English and Spanish
Place of Publication:
Austin (Tex.)
Topic:
Mexican American authors, Autores mexicano americanos, Folklore, Traditional medicine, Mexican Americans--Social life and customs, Mexicano americanos--Vida social y costumbres, and Social history
Time Period Covered:
1970-1979
Place Name:
Texas, South, Washington (D.C.), and Chihuahua (Chihuahua, Mexico)