Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Like
many traditional medical systems found at Latin America, the very
existence of a Brazilian traditional medical system is debated. Despite
the absence of written material and organized knowledge, there is little
doubt that Brazilians from all regions and all social classes recognize
and access an estimated 4000 plant species with alleged therapeutic
purposes as well as medicinal practices ranging from bone setting to
spiritual healing. This “Brazilian folk medicine” is usually described
as a rich mixture of African, European, and Indigenous medical
traditions.
Aim of the study
This study questions this view, and argues it is both simplistic and Eurocentric.
Materials and methods
By scrutinizing the origins of the medical uses of Zingiberis officinale, Curcuma longa, Ruta officinalis, Cephaelis ipecacuanha, Pilocarpus pinnatifolius, and curare (Chondrodendron, Abuta and Curarea),
we illustrate the intense circulation of materials during imperial
times. We further discuss how these practices articulated with local
medical knowledge, and exemplify some of the ways by which knowledge was
produced, transformed, incorporated, and resignified over time.
Discussion
Though
not a systematic or comprehensive analysis of Brazilian folk medicine
development, these selected examples show that, in opposition to usual
simplistic descriptions, complex and convoluted manners of medicinal
plant development occurred over time to compound both the Brazilian and
European pharmaceutical armamentarium.
Graphical abstract
The
graphical image that appears under the heading Post Colonialist view -
Exchanges in “contact zone” is from: Roob, A., 2003. Alchemy &
Mysticism: The Hermetic Museum (Klotz). Taschen America LLC.
Keywords
- Traditional medicine;
- Meso and Southern America;
- Intellectual property rights;
- Indigenous Brazilian knowledge;
- Knowledge exchange;
- Resignifying knowledge
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
