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Flores-Silva A, Cuevas-Guzmán R, Baptista G, Olvera-Vargas M, Mariaca-Méndez R. Dynamic Edible Plant Theoretical Knowledge in a Changing Western Mexican Rural Community. J ETHNOBIOL 2021. [DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771-41.4.465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alondra Flores-Silva
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. Independencia Nacional 151, Autlán de Navarro 48900, Jalisco, México
| | - Ramón Cuevas-Guzmán
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. Independencia Nacional 151, Autlán de Navarro 48900, Jalisco, México
| | - Geilsa Baptista
- Departamento de Educação, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Novo Horizonte-Bahía, Brasil
| | - Miguel Olvera-Vargas
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. Independencia Nacional 151, Autlán de Navarro 48900, Jalisco, México
| | - Ramón Mariaca-Méndez
- Dirección General de Estadística e Información Ambiental de la Semarnat, Ejército Nacional, Ciudad de México, México
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Vitasović-Kosić I, Kaligarič M, Juračak J. Divergence of Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Slovenians on the Edge of the Mediterranean as a Result of Historical, Geographical and Cultural Drivers. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 10:plants10102087. [PMID: 34685896 PMCID: PMC8541409 DOI: 10.3390/plants10102087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
State boundaries limit human contacts in a homogenous context of a landscape and its natural features, including plants. After nine centuries of separation, finally the two territories in Slovenia share the same political history. In this paper we tried to answer the question to which extent the past political borders, geographical and cultural drivers affect today's traditional knowledge on wild plants use of Slovenians, living unified in the same political entity. Data were collected using 60 in-depth semi-structured interviews, from March to August 2019, in two municipalities: Komen at Karst and Izola in Istria concerning food, medicinal, economic use, and local customs. The results indicate a quite large divergence in ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge between the two studied areas. In the Komen area, many people still use wild plants daily for various purposes (Taraxacum officinale, Melissa officinalis, Urtica dioica, Cornus mas, and Sambucus nigra). In contrast, this is limited to fewer people in the Izola area and mainly to seasonal use of specific plants (Asparagus acutifolius, Rosa canina, Salvia officinalis, Foeniculum vulgare and Rubus caesius). Unusual for the Mediterranean is the use of young shoots of Clematis vitalba, in the Izola area prepared as omelettes. We can assume that these differences are partly due to minor differences in climatic conditions and partly due to the influence of different cultures and cuisines. In the first place, the impact of Austro-Hungarian eating habits and cuisine can be seen on the area around Komen. Moreover, temporal "layers of knowledge" across the time scale are additionally mixed by the immigration of people from other parts of Slovenia or abroad, or with the influence of local herbal specialists. At last, we conclude Komen area knowledge is alive and homogeneous, and more connected to their local identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Vitasović-Kosić
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
- Correspondence:
| | - Mitja Kaligarič
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia;
| | - Josip Juračak
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
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Mattalia G, Stryamets N, Grygorovych A, Pieroni A, Sõukand R. Borders as Crossroads: The Diverging Routes of Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living on the Romanian and Ukrainian Sides of Bukovina. Front Pharmacol 2021; 11:598390. [PMID: 33679388 PMCID: PMC7928418 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2020.598390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cross-border and cross-cultural ethnomedicine are novel ways to address the evolution of local ecological knowledge. As is widely acknowledged, ethnomedicinal knowledge is not static, but evolves according to several factors, including changes in ecological availability and socioeconomic conditions, and yet the effect of the political context on medicinal knowledge remains largely underexplored. Bukovina, a small region of Eastern Europe that has been divided by a border since the 1940s and is currently part of both Romania and Ukraine, represents a unique case study in which to address the impact of political contexts on ethnomedicinal knowledge. The aim of this study was to compare plant-based medicinal uses among Romanians living on the two sides of the Romanian-Ukrainian border. In addition, we performed cross-cultural and cross-border analysis with published data on the ethnomedicine of the neighboring ethnolinguistic group of Hutsuls. We conducted 59 semistructured interviews with conveniently selected Romanians living in both Romanian and Ukrainian Bukovina. We elicited preparations for treating different ailments and disorders by naming each part of the body. We also asked about the sources of this medicinal knowledge. We documented the medicinal use of 108 plant taxa belonging to 45 families. Fifty-four taxa were common to both Romanian communities; 20 were only found among Romanians living in Romania and 34 only among Romanians living in Ukraine. However, the number of recorded uses was higher among Romanians living in Romania, revealing that they make consistent use of local medicinal plants, and Romanians living in Ukrainian Bukovina use more taxa but less consistently. Comparison with the data published in our study on neighboring Hutsuls shows that medicinal knowledge is more homogeneous among Hutsuls and Romanians living in Ukraine, yet many similar uses were found among Romanian communities across the border. We argue that the 50 years during which Ukrainian Bukovina was part of the USSR resulted in the integration of standard pan-Soviet elements as evidenced by several plant uses common among the groups living in Ukraine yet not among Hutsuls and Romanians living in Romania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Mattalia
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Mestre, Italy,Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Spain
| | - Nataliya Stryamets
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Mestre, Italy,*Correspondence: Nataliya Stryamets,
| | - Anya Grygorovych
- Department of biology, chemistry and bioresources, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine
| | - Andrea Pieroni
- University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy,Medical Analysis Department, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq
| | - Renata Sõukand
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Mestre, Italy
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Mattalia G, Stryamets N, Pieroni A, Sõukand R. Knowledge transmission patterns at the border: ethnobotany of Hutsuls living in the Carpathian Mountains of Bukovina (SW Ukraine and NE Romania). JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2020; 16:41. [PMID: 32650792 PMCID: PMC7350595 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-020-00391-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/12/2020] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cross-border research is a novel and important tool for detecting variability of ecological knowledge. This is especially evident in regions recently divided and annexed to different political regimes. Therefore, we conducted a study among Hutsuls, a cultural and linguistic minority group living in Northern and Southern Bukovina (Ukraine and Romania, respectively). Indeed, in the 1940s, a border was created: Northern Bukovina was annexed by the USSR while Southern Bukovina remained part of the Kingdom of Romania. In this research, we aim to document uses of plants for food and medicinal preparations, discussing the different dynamics of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) transmission among Hutsuls living in Ukraine and Romania. METHODS Field research was conducted using convenience and snowball sampling techniques to recruit 31 Hutsuls in Ukraine and 30 in Romania for participation in semi-structured interviews regarding the use of plants for medicinal and food preparation purposes and the sources of such knowledge. RESULTS The interviews revealed that, despite a common cultural and linguistic background, ethnobotanical knowledge transmission occurs in different ways on each side of the border. Family is a primary source of ethnobotanical knowledge transmission on both sides of the border; however, in Romania, knowledge from other sources is very limited, whereas in Ukraine interviewees reported several other sources including books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet and television. This is especially evident when analysing the wild plants used for medicinal purposes as we found 53 taxa that were common to both, 47 used only in Ukraine and 11 used only in Romania. While Romanian Hutsuls used almost exclusively locally available plants, Ukrainian Hutsuls often reported novel plants such as Aloe vera, Aronia melanocarpa and Elaeagnus rhamnoides. Knowledge related to these plants was transferred by sources of knowledge other than oral transmission among members of the same family. Therefore, this may imply hybridization of the local body of knowledge with foreign elements originating in the Soviet context which has enriched the corpus of ethnobotanical knowledge held by Ukrainian Hutsuls. CONCLUSIONS While ethnobotanical knowledge among Romanian Hutsuls is mainly traditional and vertically transmitted, among Ukrainian Hutsuls there is a considerable proportion of LEK that is transmitted from other (written and visual) sources of knowledge. This cross-border research reveals that despite a common cultural background, socio-political scenarios have impacted Hutsul ethnobotanical knowledge and its transmission patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Mattalia
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172, Mestre, Venezia, Italy.
- Autonomous University of Barcelona, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, 08193, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
| | - Nataliya Stryamets
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172, Mestre, Venezia, Italy
| | - Andrea Pieroni
- University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042, Pollenzo/Bra, Italy
- Medical Analysis Department, TISHK International University, Qazi Muhammad, Erbil, Kurdistan, 44001, Iraq
| | - Renata Sõukand
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172, Mestre, Venezia, Italy
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van den Boog T, Bulkan J, Tansey J, van Andel TR. Sustainability issues of commercial non-timber forest product extraction in West Suriname. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2018; 14:44. [PMID: 29954430 PMCID: PMC6027770 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-018-0244-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been traded for millennia by indigenous communities. Current increased demands driven by globalisation, however, put more pressure on local harvesters and their surrounding ecosystems. The safeguarding of indigenous access rights to harvesting grounds is needed, either through communal land titles or collaborative management agreements, both to secure prior indigenous rights and to minimise further negative ecological impacts. METHODS This study was carried out in two indigenous communities in West Suriname located along the Corentyne River. We assessed the three economically most important NTFPs for each community. We determined the land tenure status of harvesting grounds and negative impacts on target species and/or ecosystem. Ethnobotanical data were collected (n = 53), and semi-structured interviews were held with hunters and gatherers (n = 13). Local and national maps were acquired, and their data merged. RESULTS Results showed that the communities have no tenure security over their most important harvesting sites. These collection sites are State owned and some under (active) logging concession. All of the traded wild animal populations had decreased because of increased local and non-local commercial interest, especially the stingray Potamotrygon boesemani (first described in 2008), which was traded for US$250 per live specimen. The stingray population had become imperilled within months as local and (inter-) national regulations for this species are non-existent. CONCLUSIONS We stress the urgent need for collaborative management agreements over the harvesting sites between the government of Suriname and the indigenous communities to prevent further non-local developments and harvesting to disturb the local economy. An immediate moratorium on the export of P. boesemani is necessary to prevent the extinction of this endemic stingray.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim van den Boog
- Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Janette Bulkan
- Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - James Tansey
- Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Tinde R. van Andel
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Vondellaan 55, 2332 AA Leiden, Netherlands
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