Matthieu Salpeteur

The importance of cultural factors in the distribution of medicinal plant knowledge: a case study in four Basque regions.

ETHNOBOTANICAL RELEVANCE Previous research suggests that the use of medicinal plants by a given group is mainly driven by biological variables such as the chemical composition or the ecological distribution of plants. However, other studies highlight the importance of cultural aspects such as the curative meaning given to a plant, beliefs, religion or the historical context. Such aspects could play an important role in the use, diffusion or even in the effectiveness of a plant remedy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fieldwork consisted of 233 orally consented semi-structured interviews with 178 informants about medicinal uses of plants. Interviews were conducted in four historically and geographycally delimited regions of Alava and Biscay with similar environmental conditions but different sociolinguistic backgrounds: two regions were Basque- and two Spanish-speaking. Data were structured in use-reports. A Between Class Analysis was conducted to assess the intercultural and intracultural variability of medicinal plants knowledge. RESULTS The results show the existence of four clearly different medicinal ethnofloras. While the four ethnofloras share remedies widely distributed through the territory, each of them also includes remedies that are only shared among closely related communities. The ecological availability and chemical composition of the plants may explain why there are widely used plant remedies. On the contrary, the distribution of the locally shared remedies matches up with the cultural heterogeneity of the territory, so cultural factors, such as, language, social networks or the meaning response of the plants seem to explain the use of many traditional plant remedies. In Addition, we also found that Basque speaking territories show higher knowledge levels than Spanish speaking territories. In this sense, the development and reinforcement of Basque identity by Basque nationalism seems to have contributed to maintain the traditional knowledge in the Basque speaking regions. CONCLUSIONS Despite the fact that pharmacological effectiveness and ecological availability are usually considered as the main variables that shape the traditional use of medicinal plants, our results suggest that cultural factors can be at least as important as ecological and chemical factors. In fact, differences in language, in the cultural meaning of the plants, in the context related to cultural identities, and in social networks seem to play a fundamental role in the use and diffusion and maintenance or erosion of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants in the study area.

Resilience of small-scale societies: a view from drylands

To gain insights on long-term social-ecological resilience, we examined adaptive responses of small-scale societies to dryland-related hazards in different regions and chronological periods, spanning from the mid-Holocene to the present. Based on evidence from Africa (Sahara and Sahel), Asia (south margin of the Thar desert), and Europe (South Spain), we discuss key traits and coping practices of small-scale societies that are potentially relevant for building resilience. The selected case studies illustrate four main coping mechanisms: mobility and migration, storage, commoning, and collective action driven by religious beliefs. Ultimately, the study of resilience in the context of drylands emphasizes the importance of adaptive traits and practices that are distinctive of small-scale societies: a strong social-ecological coupling, a solid body of traditional ecological knowledge, and a high degree of internal cohesion and self-organization.

Gendered medicinal plant knowledge contributions to adaptive capacity and health sovereignty in Amazonia

Local medical systems are key elements of social-ecological systems as they provide culturally appropriate and locally accessible health care options, especially for populations with scarce access to biomedicine. The adaptive capacity of local medical systems generally rests on two pillars: species diversity and a robust local knowledge system, both threatened by local and global environmental change. We first present a conceptual framework to guide the assessment of knowledge diversity and redundancy in local medicinal knowledge systems through a gender lens. Then, we apply this conceptual framework to our research on the local medicinal plant knowledge of the Tsimane’ Amerindians. Our results suggest that Tsimane’ medicinal plant knowledge is gendered and that the frequency of reported ailments and the redundancy of knowledge used to treat them are positively associated. We discuss the implications of knowledge diversity and redundancy for local knowledge systems’ adaptive capacity, resilience, and health sovereignty.

When Knowledge Follows Blood: Kin Groups and the Distribution of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in a Community of Seminomadic Pastoralists, Gujarat (India)

Understanding the patterns and processes underlying the heterogeneous distribution of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) across communities of natural resource users is a growing research topic. However, social organization as a factor potentially shaping TEK intracultural distribution has received scant attention. Here, we analyze the role played by kinship groups—namely, patrilineal lineages and segments—in shaping bodies of TEK among a group of seminomadic pastoralists in India. We use two quantitative approaches (score based and similarity based) to analyze variations in four TEK domains: soils, ethnoveterinary, breeds, and ethnobotany. We find that kinship groups share divergent bodies of knowledge, a finding that we interpret in light of the social organization of migration, in which kinship provides a privileged basis that structures migratory groups and, as such, favors the constitution of shared bodies of knowledge. We conclude by advocating for a better inclusion of the organizational featur...

Looking for the effects of bodily organs and substances through vernacular public autopsy in Cameroon

The vernacular public autopsy practised in the western highlands of Cameroon consists of splitting open the belly and chest of a dead person and examining their contents. It is done in the presence of senior members of the village or kin of the deceased. It is based on the assumption that the skin of any subject is an envelope, with apertures through which all kinds of substances may flow on their way out of the body or into it. It is believed that the internal organs and substances are impacted by such flows, have an efficacy of their own and impact in turn on other subjects. Consequently, autopsy may be considered as a technique that has efficacy on the body of the dead as well as on his/her neighbours and relatives.

Comigrants and friends: Informal networks and the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge among seminomadic pastoralists of Gujarat, India

Previous research has shown that social organization may affect the distribution of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) within local communities of natural resource users in multiple ways. However, in this line of research the potential role of informal relationships has mostly been overlooked. In this article, we contribute toward filling this research gap by studying how two types of informal relationships, namely migration partnership and friendship, affect the distribution of TEK within a community of seminomadic pastoralists from the Kutch area, Gujarat, India. Using social network analysis, we map three networks, migration, men friendship, and women friendship, and compare with similarity-based quantitative approaches the clusters extracted from these networks in relation to four domains of TEK: knowledge about soils, about ethnoveterinary practices, about sheep breeds, and in ethnobotany. Our results show that (1) migration clusters are associated to significant variations in three TEK domains, while (2) friendship clusters are associated to minor variations. We relate these results to the importance of common practical experiences involved by joint migration. Moreover, kin relations are shown to strongly underlie friendship and migration relations, and as such appear as a potential driver of the dynamics of the local TEK system. We conclude by advocating for a better inclusion of such informal relationships in future research on local TEK dynamics, following recent developments in studies on natural resource governance.

Networking the environment: social network analysis in environmental management and local ecological knowledge studies

Since it first emerged in the 1930s, SNA has extensively grown across multiple research fields, including physics, biology, and history, among others (Borgatti et al. 2009). In the social sciences, the distinctive contribution of SNA has been to shift the analytical focus from individual characteristics or social categories, which were at the center of classical social science research, to the patterns of relations in which individuals or groups are embedded (White and Johansen 2005, Borgatti et al. 2009). This relational perspective has allowed the development of a rich body of research, tackling key questions in the social sciences. For example, SNA researchers have made important contributions to our understanding of how power and influence are distributed in a given social structure (Bonacich 1987), of how social ties of different intensity explain social systems’ dynamics (e.g., Burt 2004), of the nature of the relations between social structures and individual agency (Archer 1982, Emirbayer and Goodwin 1994), and of the importance of shared characteristics in the formation of social clusters (the “homophily effect”; see McPherson et al. 2001). These theoretical advances have been of specific interest among scholars studying natural resources management, because they are dealing with the study of social-ecological systems in which complex social dynamics and interactions are taking place. SNA indeed offers some adequate theoretical and methodological frames to uncover the ways in which heterogeneous groups of actors interact, collaborate, exchange information and materials, and mobilize their social capital, all key aspects of natural resources management. Application of SNA in this field of research has given birth to a wealth of studies, which we will present below.

Rabari Shepherds and the Mad Tree: The Dynamics of Local Ecological Knowledge in the Context of Prosopis juliflora Invasion in Gujarat, India

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are known to be an important driver of environmental changes, yet the social impacts of such invasions are understudied, particularly among vulnerable groups. In this article we study the ways Rabari pastoralists from Kutch (Gujarat, India) deal with the invasion of Prosopis juliflora, a widely-spread, invasive bush tree. First, we analyze how the Rabari pastoralists perceive the presence of P. juliflora among a range of environmental changes and problems they are faced with today. Second, we focus on the dynamics of their Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) system by studying the knowledge and uses that are implemented in daily interactions with the tree. Our results show that P. juliflora invasion is not perceived as a major problem by the pastoralists, despite being mostly associated with negative impacts. We relate these results to several intertwined factors, such as the importance of other changes, the shifting baseline syndrome, the adaptive capacity of LEK systems, and the slow rate of environmental change directly attributable to P. juliflora invasion. We then suggest that the ability of LEK systems to adapt to environmental change may in turn influence the perception of environmental changes, such as P. juliflora invasion.