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Delfina Cuero: Her Autobiography, an Account of Her Last Years, and Her Ethnobotanic Contributions
"My name is Delfina Cuero. I was born in xamaca [Jamacha] about sixty-five years ago [about 1900]. My father s name was Vincente Cuero, it means Charlie."
"With simple elegance the story of a Kumeyaay woman from the San Diego region engulfs the reader, until we feel as though we are sitting at the feet of some great-aunt or grandmother as she tries to pass onto us something ...more
"With simple elegance the story of a Kumeyaay woman from the San Diego region engulfs the reader, until we feel as though we are sitting at the feet of some great-aunt or grandmother as she tries to pass onto us something ...more
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Community Reviews
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This is an extremely moving account of an indigenous woman's life, Delfina Cuero. She and her family were essentially pushed out of the United States to Baja California, though she is indigenous to the San Diego area. This is her account of her struggles to keep her family alive--they were literally only ever paid in food or cloth for their work, never in money.
The setting is San Diego County. This short book chronicles the life of a Kumeyaay who lives between three cultures and across the boundary of the US and Mexico. She was raised as a small family, who had a donkey to carry their few possessions. They survived by working small ranches and living in the canyons where they could. Their foraging territory included Mission Valley, the backcountry of SD, Eastside canyons of the US and Mexico and all the way to the Gulf of California. Having no papers,
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The book was actually written by Florence C. Shipek, Phd. She was a great friend of Delfina and the Campo Band. The origins of the work were based on work Dr Shipek did for Defina to prove her citizenship in the US so she could collect social security. Dr. Shipek always used to remarked about the contrast between lives of her mother, Florence Connolly born in NYC, and Delfina born in the back country of San Diego. Both women were born the same year 1891, but what a stark contrast in the way they
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San Diego County was once home to many, many Native Americans. This account of one Kumeyaay woman who lived "the old ways" was very enligntening. And sad too...she had a hard life, due mostly to bad treatment by early settlers: Mexicans, mission Catholics, and ranchers. I'm glad I read it.
It says that this book is more about ethnobotany, but I found it to be much more like an autobiography. It was a quick read and I found it to be interesting, to a point. I just wish there was more depth in it. Maybe that's part of its charm.
Aug 07, 2007
Jane
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in borderland societies
It is a book about the pre-colonial tribes that lived in southern Californai. It talks about their traditional developments for survival, including substinance, healing practices, and what they did for fun. I really liked it.
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