Brent Berlin - US grants

This proposal will describe the knowledge and uses of medical plants by the Mayan peoples of the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The long-term objectives of the research are to produce a detailed comparative inventory of those plant species deemed to have medicinal value by the indigenous Tzeltal and Tzotzil peoples of the highland region, and identify those species that merit chemical evaluation because of their potentially beneficial properties; to identify and describe in Western bio-medical terms the folk syndromes of illness for which medicinal plants are employed in recognized folk remedies; to develop textual, audio- and video-taped recordings of the preparation and administration of plant-derived medications for the recognized native categories of affliction and disease; and to publish a multilingual, illustrated atlas and ethnomedical encyclopedia in English, Spanish, Tzeltal and Tzotzil that compares regional variation in ethnobotanical knowledge and uses of medicinal plants as reflected in the differential distribution of plant species, ethnomedical and ethnobotanical nomenclature, type of affliction treated, and methods of preparation and application. The research will be conducted with the active collaboration of state and local representatives of the Chiapas Public Health Service. The results of this broad study will serve to codify the significance of traditional medical knowledge for both indigenous and non-native peoples at a time when the loss of this knowledge is seriously threatened by rapid economic and social change. This type of research is important because the analysis of specific folk systems of nature helps us to understand knowlege systems in general.

This project continues the existing support for research in Mexico of several cultural anthropologists from the University of California-Berkeley. The project studies the medical and pharmacological ethnobotanical knowledge of a group of Mayan Indians living in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The project will prepare an encyclopedia of plants with their medicinal and pharmacological properties and local customary uses, as well as herbarium collections in Mexico and in the USA. This project is important because the traditional knowledge of Indian peoples is a valuable part of our human biodiversity resources. By analyzing these local communities' ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological knowledge, and matching that knowledge with biological assays of the biochemical properties of the plants, this project will add to our understanding of the nature of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge.

This research project involves the dissertation research of a graduate student in ethno-botanical anthropology who will study how members of a Mayan Indian community in southern Mexico select medicinal plants. The project, based on participant observation, field surveys for plants, structured interviewing and lexicographic techniques, represents an in-depth study of the information Mayan Indians need to identify medicinal plants. The researcher will collect medicinal plants with expert Mayan Indians, questioning them as they select (and reject) plants for their pharmacological efficacy. In addition expert Indian plant collectors will be asked to define the characteristics of an already collected set of medicinal plants. The end result will be an in-depth analysis of the cognitive as well as botanical aspects of Mayan Indian medicinal plant use. The dissertation research is in collaboration with other research on the ethnomedicine of Indians in this area, and will contribute to and benefit from this other research. This research is important because understanding how people with a vibrant natural system of medicinal plant use select plants for specific illnesses will advance our knowledge of basic human cognition about health care, and of the medicinal attributes of plants in this area. Recording and preserving indigenous ethnobotanical and ethnomedical knowledge is an important part of preserving global biodiversity.

This project will examine how the Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya experience, diagnose and treat mental disorders. A period of 24 months will be spent collecting data that will address interrelated concerns within three domains: (1) traditional Maya ethnopsychiatry, (2) the relationship of the Maya ethnopsychiatric model to the Western biomedical psychiatric model, and (3) medical pluralism and hierarchy of resort of treatment of mental disorders. An ethnoepidemiology survey will be central to the project. This survey will establish the prevalence and cultural definition of the mental conditions under study, form the basis for screening of cases in subsequent stages of the research, and for recruitment of self-identified cases of recognized folk disorders. Focus on the experiences of the sufferers of mental disorders has yet to be undertaken in this region and will provide valuable information on the afflictions, the system of ethnomedical practice, the beliefs which direct treatment choice, the dynamic relation between belief and behavior, and the relation between the indigenous and biomedical systems. The use of the Western psychiatric assessment instruments (e.g., Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule) will provide comparative information on cultural variation in psychological disorders. Importantly, knowledged gained about Maya disorders and their definition and treatment will allow public health officials to more effectively design treatment strategies for the Maya.

This award to the University of California-Berkeley funds the dissertation research of a cultural anthropologist in the Peruvian Amazon rain forest. The problem is to understand how native Americans identify medicinal plants in the forest. The student will assess native perceptions of specific cues of taste, smell, or feel (bitterness, sweetness, astringency, aromatic smell, prickly texture, etc. ) which are thought to indicate therapeutic efficacy. A `taste and smell` experiment will be conducted whereby Indian informants are asked to describe items unfamiliar to the native palate, to provide an objective, comparative basis for defining the indigenous vocabulary of taste and smell. The student will also study how native perceptions of medicinal efficacy relate to native theories of disease causation, and how these correspond to Western pharmacological and medical knowledge. The methods include an ethnomedical health census, structured and semi-structured interviews, and the collection and analysis of botanical specimens. The native models of two Amerindian groups will be compared, to assess the degree of variability across unrelated cultural groups sharing a similar environment. This research is important because it will add to our expertise about this important region of the world and will advance our knowledge of how native peoples select and use medicinal plants. The study of medicinal plants used by indigenous peoples is especially important because it may reveal new cures for diseases, while at the same time promoting cultural and ecological conservation in indigenous areas.

9971024
Berlin

This Americas Program award will support travel and related expenses for five junior researchers, to participate in an workshop in connection with an international symposium on sustainable mountain development to take place in Quito, Ecuador. Organizers are Drs. O. Brent Berlin and Fausto Sarmiento, University of Georgia's Center for Latin American Studies, in collaboration with Dr. Juan Hidalgo, Director of the Regional Panamerican Center for Geographic Research (CEPEIGE). The main objective is to incorporate new paradigms of mountain ecology and new viewpoints about sustainability in the Andes. The specialized workshop will include subject areas of current relevance, such as conservation and sustainable development. Specific objectives include, among others, to interchange experiences between scholars, policy-makers and NGO's, with the aim of linking international, regional and local knowledge on managing interfaces of cultural landscapes in the Andes, and stimulate scholarly research and institutional cooperation in mountain development..

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A multidisciplinary International Collaborative Biodiversity Group is proposed that will discover, isolate, and preclinically evaluate pharmacologically important species from Mexico, the third richest mega- diversity region of the world and one of the most threatened in terms of biodiversity loss due to increased environmental destruction. Work will be carried out among the Maya-speaking peoples of the area who possess a complex ethnopharmacopoeia comprised of hundreds of species of plants in an ancient system of traditional medicine. The efficacy of the most important plant species employed in Maya medicine, as well the pharmaceutically most promising species from the total flora of Highland Chiapas (approximately 5000 species) will be evaluated by natural products chemists employing the most modern assaying procedures available. A significant sample of micro-organisms from the region will also be evaluated. All species will be screened for their activity against cancer, opportunistic diseases associated with HIV-AIDS, CNS disorders, contraception, cardiovascular disease, and locally serious gastrointestinal, respiratory/pulmonary, and skin disorders. The ICBG will mount a comprehensive botanical survey of the Central Chiapas Highlands, in concert with agroecological experimentation on sustainable harvest and production of selected species that show high potential as pytomedicinals, crop protection agents, and commercially viable ornamentals. Maya collaborators will be trained in workshops and participatory research activities. Academic exchanges developed with the ICBG will allow host-country nationals and US students to participate in advanced degree programs, assuring that goals of the program will be continued upon its completion.

Abstract 0079499

This project will investigate how Tzeltal Maya reconcile their understanding of illness with the biologically-based characteristics of plants in order to select and maintain consensus about medicinal plant cures. Using an approach centered around "cognitive prototypes" (prototypes from the domains of plants and illness), the researcher will identify variables (taste, plant distribution, cultural interpretation of plant characteristics, etc.) employed by the Maya in selecting plants for medicinal use. A number of hypotheses concerning the relationship between these variables and selection will be tested, as well as hypotheses about the relationship between specific illnesses and plant types. Methods include structured interviews with samples from the population, a plant survey, and elicitation techniques regarding plant/illness qualities. Comparative data from Maya migrants will also be gathered to assess the degree to which these same cognitive prototypes guide plant selection in environments with different flora. This project will contribute to the field of cognitive science and to our understanding of how indigenous populations conceptualize and use medicinal plants to cure illness.

Abstract 0079197

This project will investigate Tzotzil Maya ethnoecological knowledge of macrofungi (mushrooms), an important dietary and medicinal element in this part of the world. Since Maya ethnomycological classification focuses almost exclusively on edible or useful species (in contrast to patterns for other plants and animals), mushroom species provide an opportunity for comparative analysis of the structure and function of general purpose and special purpose taxonomies, and how these affect behavior. The naming, classification, and use of mushrooms will be examined in order to understand how both environments and cultural contexts affect ethnobiological knowledge (cognitive variation in knowledge). Hypotheses concerning three competing models of folk biological classification will be tested. This study will also document the biodiversity and ecological requirements of mushrooms and contribute to our understanding of the ecological, dietary, medicinal and economic benefits of mushrooms.

This research project, to be conducted by a doctoral student in Anthropology at the University of Georgia, contributes to an understanding of some of the processes of knowledge acquisition and transfer in formal and informal social contexts. Plant knowledge diversity and consensus are hypothesized to be correlated with variation in the structure of communication networks and community interaction patterns. Qualitative and quantitative techniques are used to test these hypotheses and document variation in ethnobotanical knowledge and change in several Raramuri (Tarahumara) communities in Chihuahua, Mexico. The project identifies environmental factors contributing to differential botanical expertise among children and adults at three levels of interaction: 1) the social interaction patterns between households; 2) a child's immediate environment interactions, both biophysical and sociocultural; and 3) a child's personal characteristics and social roles. Results will contribute to the development of an interactionist model of indigenous education, and to understanding the relationships between individual learning and community processes of change. It will also contribute to ongoing Raramuri biocultural conservation efforts and to the design of effective environmental education projects.

This dissertation research studies tree identification methods among the Aguaruna Jivaro, an indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many tropical forest peoples can identify tree species simply by observing the visual, olfactory and gustatory characteristics of the trunk and bark This stands in contrast to the identification methods outlined in Western taxonomic keys that rely heavily on floral, fruit and leaf characteristics to make tree identifications. Fruit and floral characteristics show a high degree of similarity among trees of the new world tropics, making them more problematic for use in identifying these trees. Additionally, they tend to appear seasonally, and may be difficult to reach if they are high up in the canopy. For this reason, indigenous methods of tree identification, especially those involving trunk characteristics, would be useful to study. However, to date, little in depth research exists on the ways that indigenous peoples recognize and identify the organisms in their local environments. This project will address the question: What are the perceptual and ecological clues that allow the Aguaruna to recognize and identify tropical forest trees? Broader impacts: Aside from contributing to the education of a young social scientist, the research findings will also be beneficial for tropical forestry and conservation projects in the Peru and adjacent countries by adding to efforts to find easier methods for identifying new world tropical trees based on sterile characteristics.

In the past, knowledge about the natural world, often referred to as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), was learned through interaction with others who are more knowledgeable, such as grandparents, parents or siblings. Recent research suggests that such interactional learning experiences are becoming less common for children. Today, a greater number of children acquire biological and ecological knowledge in formal classroom settings, or rely on television, books, or videos for instruction. Research conducted over a decade ago in Arizona revealed that there has been a loss of TEK when comparing Tohono Oodham children to their grandparents. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Georgia will test the proposition that the acquisition of TEK requires a learning context based on social interactions. The focus will be on the role of inter-generational contact and instruction, specifically the social relationships between children and a grandparent or elder.

This research will contribute to theory on the loss or transformation of TEK. The will help to understand and predict changes in the process of knowledge acquisition in populations undergoing social and environmental transformations. Research results will provide baseline data for conducting future longitudinal studies on the loss of cultural knowledge among Tohono Oodham, and comparative data for research on loss of TEK in other locations. Research results will be applied to current biocultural education efforts in local schools and in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The research also will provide ethnographic research training for two Tohono Oodham collaborators and will create an electronic library of traditional ecological knowledge about Sonoran Desert plants and animals to be distributed to local schools.

Ethnobotanical knowledge of indigenous people is fast disappearing. Therefore, it is important to document this information before it is lost to science. Such research helps to ensure that information about plant usefulness is recordetd. It also helps us to understand how knowledge more generally is learned and transmitted over generations. Graduate student Maria-Ruth Martinez, supervised by Dr. Brent Berlin, will undertake research on the ethnobotanical knowledge of the Tsimane, a relatively isolated indigenous people who live in lowland Amazonia Bolivia.

Martinez will study the knowledge of children, a population often overlooked in ethnobotanical studies. About 200 children (ages 7-15) and their parents will be asked to participate so that she can investigate the theoretical and practical ethnobotanical knowledge of Tsimane children, their social and experiential contexts for learning, and their specific acquisition patterns. The research will use a mixed-methods approach, including participant observation, free-listing, semi-structured interviews, ethnobotanical collections, ethnobotanical knowledge tests, and time allocation scans. Hypotheses to be tested are: H1: A child''s ethnobotanical knowledge will bear a positive association with the ethnobotanical knowledge of the same sex parent; H2: A child''s ethnobotanical knowledge will bear a positive association with the ethnobotanical knowledge of his/her siblings; H3: The amount of time a child spends with his/her same sex parent and siblings will be positively associated with the child''s ethnobotanical knowledge; H4: There will be a positive interaction effect on a child''s ethnobotanical knowledge between parental and siblings ethnobotanical knowledge (H1-H2) and time spent with these figures (H3); H5: The relative amount of time a child spends interacting with nature will be positively associated with the child''s ethnobotanical knowledge; and, H6: There is a pattern to which plant knowledge is acquired during childhood.

This research is important because it will contribute to understanding how children learn, it will document endangered ethnobotanical knowledge, it will help to develop better strategies for conserving ethnobotanical knowledge, and it will contribute to the education of a female social scientist from an under represented group.

University of Georgia doctoral student Paul Scanlon, under the supervision of Dr. Brent Berlin, will undertake research on how food and culture interact as migrant groups are incorporated into host societies. The focus of his resarch will be Mexican cuisine in the United States. The researcher will ask whether and how Mexican dietary practices play a role in Mexican American cultural incorporation and acceptance.

The research will be conducted in two metropolitan areas with constrasting migration ecologies and histories: Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas, where he will focus on restaurant patrons and owners. Using a combination of ethnographic, cognitive, and archival research methods, the researcher will determine how the perceptions and meanings of Mexican American cuisine differ across ethnic, local, and sociocultural lines, and how they affect the cross-cultural acceptance and incorporation of Americans and Mexican immigrants. As part of the research, he will employ a preliminary ethnographic analysis to create two new scales, one to measure Anglo and African American acceptance of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and another to measure cuisine acculturation.

The research's significance is multifaceted. The new analytical scales will be useful to other researchers and can contribute to future comparative social scientific research. The research also will aid better understanding of inter-ethnic interactions at the local level, how these vary regionally in the United States, and how these change over time.