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The ethnobotany of the Mestizo people of Suni Miraño, Peru

University of British Columbia

The present invasion and depletion of the Peruvian forest continues to erode the traditional knowledge accumulated in the Amazon Basin. Many Indigenous cultures have flourish in the Amazon Basin for at least the last 3,000 years (Lathrap, 1970) while Mestizo culture began approximately 500 years ago, with the arrival of European and other Old World explorers. The richness in biological and cultural diversity of Amazonia forest has inspired many fundamental ethnopharmacological studies on the botany and chemistry of hallucinogenic used in healing practices. These studies have provided us with some information on disease and etiology (Kampinnen, 1988); the uses of medicinal and magical plants (Luna, 1984) and on diet and acculturation (Holmes, 1992). However, many gaps still remain. This research incorporates ethnobotanical field research and laboratory research on the medicinal plants used by Mestizo in Suni Mirano, Peru. Ethnobotanical information on 54 medicinal plants was documented, and 31 crude extracts of some selected plants were submitted to microbiological assays to test for antibiotic and antifungal activity. Included is a description of some illnesses as perceived by Mestizo, diagnosis, etiologies, the patient's role, and how some of the healing procedures are implemented. This information may allow for the explanation and understanding of illness causality, distribution, and treatment/dosage efficacy in medicine as practiced by Amazonian Mestizo. A large number of Amazonia Mestizo communities are dependent on their traditional medical knowledge as their only source of health care. This medical knowledge has been associated with a long tradition of curanderismo and sorcery among Mestizo. It has played a key role in the administration of traditional medicine. Mestizo traditional knowledge, which in some cases may have been adapted from extinct or endanger indigenous cultures (Phillips and Gentry, 1993) has been enhanced by the high capacity of people's mobility in the Amazon flooded forests. Mestizo healer use entheogens, plant able to generate god within it (Ruck, 1979), to interact with the spirit of the forest and receive medical knowledge. This wisdom is embedded in the oral tradition. The rapid depletion of the Peruvian forest by timber companies, oil drilling, agriculture and settlement project is causing serious implications to traditional medical systems and is deteriorating the quality of life in general. The complexity of forest ecosystems provides a significant number of plants used in the formulation of traditional remedies, the loss of these ecosystems will take away the foundation of traditional knowledge and the only medical resources of Aboriginal and Mestizo peoples in Amazonia. Amazonian Mestizo can be assisted in their efforts to achieve the formulation of future management policies for natural resources use, and in the development of sustainable models seeking to provided health, shelter, clothing and food to their communities.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-02-17

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4694

Botany

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace