The Tale of Healer Miguel Perdomo Neira sheds new light on a largely ignored aspect of Latin American society and culture in the nineteenth century. Through the career of Miguel Perdomo, a popular healer in Colombia and Ecuador, circa 1860-1874, David Sowell illuminates the conflict between faith-based empiric healing, as represented by Perdomo, and official, elite-controlled, secular, scientific medicine, as championed by academically trained physicians. Sowell frames this conflict with a concise historical sketch of earlier European and Andean medical systems. He also makes clear its cultural, social, and political dimensions. -- Frank Safford, Northwestern University This historical study of healer Miguel Perdomo Neira offers profound insights into the evolution of pluralistic systems-not just in the medical realm but also within Latin American culture more generally. David Sowell's research uncovers how a riot generated by Miguel Perdomo's presence in Bogota became the basis of inventive analysis of the relationship between biomedicine and 'other' or 'alternative' medical systems. Free health care is always political, as Sowell demonstrates. This beautifully written study successfully integrates the political dimension and the struggle for professional dominance into an analysis of healing practice. -- Setha M. Low, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York A fascinating story... This book significantly broadens our understanding of the contested meanings of science, religion, sickness, and disease in modern Latin America. -- Alexandra Minn Stern, University of California, Santa Cruz This is essential reading not only for students of the history of medicine but also for anyone interested in the conflictual process of modernization in nineteenth-century Latin America. -- Ann Zulawski, Smith College Recommended as a rare look into the appeal and practices of social medicine in the nineteenth century. H-Latam, H-Net Book Reviews
