Immigrant Health Care Niches: Exploring the Role of Botánicas in Tampa, FL

Botánicas are shops found in most major cities with a Latino population, that carry items that are essential elements of alternative medico-religious systems that originated in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper briefly examines the ways in which immigrants in the U.S. utilize traditional or alternative systems of healing, often – and even usually – as a complement to biomedicine. It then summarizes the small amount of literature on botánicas and the role they play in immigrant health in the U.S. This is followed by a discussion of an exploratory research project on botánicas in Tampa, FL, where a number of botánica shops are found in various neighborhoods in the city. Following a basic overview of the shops, the potential significance of the geographic location of two particular groups of botánicas is explored