Blanca Delia Martinez Gavina Log 1

Can collective healing happen in public policy?

Over the last few months, I have spent time in Mexico City, absorbing and collecting what I believe to be the pathways to healing through ancestral wisdom. My first step was to enroll in the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the largest institution of Latin America, which has access to some of the most complete works of indigenous traditional healing methods. I devoured the classes that it offered in ancestral healing practices, history and literature, where I was able to write in my native language for the first time in 27 years. The fact that I was able to write a 14-page essay, in Spanish, on national and international public policy impacts that influenced my family, and ultimately, our immigration to the US was not only healing, but I was told by professors to be of great value for other students that do not understand the plight of forced migration in other parts of the country. In addition, my interaction with the historical perspectives of indigenous Mexicans was an area that expanded my view and plight of indigenous people in Mexico. Through all these classes I also sharpened my Spanish knowledge, writing and speaking skills. And, in the meanwhile, I met with professors to develop a deeper understanding of what public policy can look like in context outside the US.

However, nothing was most life changing and transformative as my work with local healers. People that had a deep sense of commitment to the healing collective and that shared with me their reason for continuing the work that they called ‘de los abuelos’ (of the grandparents). It was during this immersion of temple calls, cleansings, rituals and temazcales that I felt a true connection and deep understanding of the work that can transform. Yet, this work cannot be written, captured, nor cataloged. My first instinct was to write and record every ritual, talk, greeting and advice as a well-trained western researcher during my years as graduate student. It was not until an elder told me ‘esto no es para tu cerebro esto es para el alma, aqui nada esta escrito’ (this is not for your brain, this is for your soul, here nothing is written) that I began to understand that the ancestral wisdom I was seeking could not simply be found but that it was a transformation of the self, a transformation of community and in creating space for healing practices.

As my last month in Mexico City comes to a close, I will continue to meet with healers, teachers and elders to listen, to open up and engage deeply in what the healing can look like. To understand as well how our policy practices in Minnesota can make space for more than physical understanding but for the healing practices that can ensure everyone’s humanity is valued, and that all ancestral knowledge regardless of the form is uplifted and honored as much as Eurocentric processes. More than anything, in this last month, I am hoping to open more space and let the process guide me, to trust my belief that in healing is the answer for an equitable community that can hold everyone.