Length of residence, age and patterns of medicinal plant knowledge and use among women in the urban Amazon
Length of residence, age and patterns of medicinal plant knowledge and use among women in the urban Amazon.
- 1
- Department
of Anthropology, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 9201
University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA. cwayland@uncc.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
This paper explores patterns of women's medicinal plant knowledge and use in an urban area of the Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, this paper examines the relationship between a woman's age and her use and knowledge of medicinal plants. It also examines whether length of residence in three different areas of the Amazon is correlated with a woman's use and knowledge of medicinal
plants. Two of the areas where respondents may have resided, the
jungle/seringal and farms/colonias, are classified as rural. The third
area (which all of the respondents resided in) was urban.
METHODS:
This
paper utilizes survey data collected in Rio Branco, Brazil. Researchers
administered the survey to 153 households in the community of Bairro da
Luz (a pseudonym). The survey collected data on phytotherapeutic knowledge, general phytotherapeutic practice, recent phytotherapeutic practice and demographic information on age and length of residence
in the seringal, on a colonia, and in a city. Bivariate correlation
coefficients were calculated to assess the inter-relationships among the
key variables. Three dependent variables, two measuring general
phytotherapeutic practice and one measuring phytotherapeutic knowledge were regressed on the demographic factors.
RESULTS:
The results demonstrate a relationship between a woman's age and medicinal plant use, but not between age and plant knowledge. Additionally, length of residence in an urban area and on a colonia/farm are not related to medicinal plant knowledge or use. However, length of residence in the seringal/jungle is positively correlated with both medicinal plant knowledge and use.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results reveal a vibrant tradition of medicinal plant use in Bairro da Luz. They also indicate that when it comes to place of residence and phytotherapy the meaningful distinction is not rural versus urban, it is seringal versus other locations. Finally, the results suggest that phytotherapeutic knowledge and use should be measured separately since one may not be an accurate proxy for the other.
