Constance M. McCorkle

Ethnoveterinary medicine: an annotated bibliography of community animal healthcare.

Evelyn Mathias and Constance McCorkle made a significant contribution to the field of ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) by publishing the first bibliography on the subject in 1989. This bibliography, written with Marina Martin, meets the same need for an annotated bibliography that mirrors developments in this dynamic field. The bibliography predominantly reflects recent EVM literature with most documents dating from 1989 to 1999. The strong growth in EVM over the last decade is illustrated by the fact that the 1989 bibliography contained 261 entries while the 2001 bibliography boasts 1240. Information spans 118 countries, 160 ethnic groups and around 200 health problems of 25 livestock species. A substantial introduction discusses the scope of EVM. The whole range of ethnoveterinary knowledge is discussed, including aspects of diagnostic techniques, materia medica, modes of preparation and administration, surgery, hydro/physical/mechanical techniques, environmental controls, herding and related strategies, genetic management, medico-religious acts, tools, technologies and human resources. A critique of EVM is included that incorporates some of the critical issues surrounding EVM. Comparative data are summarised in tables. A useful feature of the book is a section on Internet resources that includes mailing lists and relevant web sites. A comprehensive index serves as a guide to documents. The book aims to provide contemporary data, ideas and approaches to the evaluation, application and extension of EVM. It also suggests potential benefits to people derived from indigenous knowledge. The book can be recommended to anyone who wishes to gain insight into EVM and it will be an indispensable tool in literature reviews on the subject. It succeeds admirably in its aims.

Toward a knowledge of local knowledge and its importance for agricultural RD&E

Local knowledge (both technological and sociological) and communication systems represent a logical starting point and a rich body of resources for successful agricultural research, development, and extension (RD&E). Drawing upon concrete examples from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this essay presents an overview of definitions, topics, and applications of local knowledge in agricultural RD&E. Also noted are caveats, future research and training needs, and human values issues related to the study and utilization of local knowledge systems and their products.

Back to the future: Lessons from ethnoveterinary RD&E for studying and applying local knowledge

Ethnoveterinary research, development, and extension (ERD&E) has emerged as a rich field for discovering, adapting, and transferring appropriate and sustainable animal health technologies to rural and peri-urban stockraisers, especially in Third World countries. This field is defined as the holistic, interdisciplinary study of local knowledge and practices, together with the social structure in which they are embedded, that pertain to the healthcare and healthful husbandry of animals used for a multitude of purposes. Especially in the Third World, livestock play a large number of important roles that are little understood or appreciated in todays First World. Study of these benefits and their role in Third World livelihoods offers numerous lessons that span not only the virtues but also some of the technical, ethical, and methodological challenges of working with local knowledge. ERD&E emerged as an internationally recognized branch of research in the mid-1970s largely in response to an increasing concern with animal health in the context of practical, field-level projects in animal agriculture. As many as 90% of the worlds population continue to rely mainly on their own localized ethnomedicine for the bulk of their personal healthcare as well as their veterinary needs. With the escalating costs of Western healthcare technologies, it is essential to build upon this local knowledge. Of course, ethnoscience is not perfect, and recognition of the immense value of ERD&E does not imply that conventional science is to be abandoned. Rather each has much to learn from the other. Making knowledge by judiciously drawing upon insider and outsider, site-specific and universalistic, and both old and new understandings can take us back to a brighter development future.

Parallels and potentials in animal and human ethnomedical technique

In all cultures, ethnomedical practices are largely the same for animals and people, whether in mode of administration of materia medica, in the materials themselves, or in surgical, mechanical, behavioral, medico-religious, and other realms. Below, parallels between veterinary and human ethnomedical techniques are outlined. Taken together, they suggest that a number of benefits could be gained by closer collaboration between veterinary and human medicine in the delivery of basic healthcare information and services.

Intersectoral healthcare delivery

Within a given culture – whether industrialized or more tradition oriented – essentially the same fundamental medical theories, practices, and pharmacopoeia tend to be applied to human and non-human sickness and patients. In modern industrialized societies, however, healthcare services are sharply divided between human and veterinary medicine. There is likewise a sharp division between practitioners in these two health sectors: medical doctors and veterinarians. Yet in non-Western, traditional or indigenous medical systems, the same practitioners often treat both humans and animals. There is a growing body of literature that attests to the efficacy of traditional health practices and herbal medicines for the prevention and treatment of both human and livestock ailments.The authors argue for an intersectoral approach to human and veterinary health services in poor countries, especially those targeted to rural people with LIMITED access to modern health services. Extension of conventional medical and veterinary services is particularly difficult and costly in Third World countries where the necessary infrastructure (roads, clinics, labs, cold chains, etc.) is poorly developed and where much of the populace and their livestock reside in remote, rural areas, or where people may be nomadic or transhumant. Consideration should therefore be given to the joint delivery of human and livestock healthcare and related services, as well as to linking informal, ethnoveterinary practices and practitioners with more formalized systems of veterinary AND medical practice. Several advantages of such an approach are identified and explored.

Social research in international agricultural R&D: Lessons from the small ruminant CRSP

The uses of the most “social” of the social sciences—sociology and anthropology—in international agricultural research and development (R&D) have often been poorly understood. Drawing upon a decade of work by the Sociology Project of the Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program, this article exemplifies how and where social scientists can and have contributed to major development initiatives, and it illustrates some of the larger lessons to be learned for human values concerns in international agriculture.