Traditional knowledge hiding in plain sight – twenty-first century ethnobotany of the Chácobo in Beni, Bolivia
| Autor: | Araceli L. Moya Huanca, Milton Ortiz Vaca, Rainer W. Bussmann, María Soria Morán, Oscar Roca, Erlin Siripi, David Ortiz Álvarez, Gere Ortiz Soria, Robbie Hart, Bertha Chávez Moreno, Saúl Chávez, Gualberto Chávez Moreno, Narel Y. Paniagua Zambrana, Jorge Soria Morán |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Cultural Studies Adult Male Bolivia Health (social science) Adolescent Anthropology Population Ethnobotany Conservation Biology 01 natural sciences Indigenous Interviews as Topic Young Adult Documentation lcsh:Botany Tribe Humans Traditional knowledge Social science education Aged Aged 80 and over education.field_of_study Research Age Factors lcsh:Other systems of medicine Middle Aged lcsh:RZ201-999 Acculturation 0104 chemical sciences Test (assessment) lcsh:QK1-989 010404 medicinal & biomolecular chemistry Complementary and alternative medicine Female Plants Edible General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Knowledge loss Indices 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 1-47 (2017) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Repositorio Institucional de la Consejería de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid Consejería de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid |
| ISSN: | 1746-4269 |
| Popis: | Background The Chácobo are a Panoan speaking tribe of about 1000 members (300+ adults) in Beni, Bolivia. Originally nomadic, the Chácabo were relocated to their current main location in the 1960s. Researchers have visited the Chácabo since 1911. A first more detailed anthropological report exists from the late 1960s, and ecological–ethnobotanical studies were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. The presented work represents a complete ethnobotanical inventory of the entire adult Chácobo population, with interviews and plant collection conducted directly by Chácobo counterparts. Methods Based on previous reports and our preliminary studies, we hypothesized that twenty-first century Chácobo plant use centered on income generation, and that traditional plant use related to household utensils, medicine and traditional crop varieties had almost disappeared. To test this hypothesis, we started the “Chácobo Ethnobotany Project,” training 10 indigenous Chácobo participants in ethnobotanical interview and plant collection techniques, in order to more fully document Chácobo knowledge and avoid the influence of foreign interviewers. Results Our study found 331 useful plant species in 241genera of 95 plant families, with leaves, roots and bark being the most commonly used plant parts The comprehensive documentation that these methods enabled completely nullified our initial hypothesis of knowledge loss. Traditional crop varieties are still widely grown and traditional knowledge is alive. Moreover, it is being actively recuperated in certain domains by the younger generation. Most Chácobo know, and can name, traditional utensils and tools, although only the older generation has still the skills to manufacture them. While many Chácobo still know the names and uses of medicinal species, the younger generation is however often unsure how to identify them. Conclusions In this paper we illustrate the complexity of perspectives on knowledge at different ages, and the persistence of knowledge over almost a century. We found that traditional knowledge was only partially affected by the processes of exposure to a market economy, and that different knowledge domains experienced different trends as a result of these changes. Overall knowledge was widely distributed, and we did not observe a directional knowledge loss. We stress the importance to not directly conclude processes of knowledge loss, cultural erosion or acculturation when comparing the knowledge of different age groups. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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