Distribution of Herbal Remedy Knowledge in Tabi, Yucatan, Mexico. Academic Article

abstract

• The distribution of herbal remedy knowledge among a group of people is studied for two main reasons: (1) to identify plants that are promising for pharmacological analysis, and (2) to examine the factors that lead to herbal remedy knowledge erosion as opposed to dynamism in the acquisition of knowledge. The goal of this particular study, which is aligned with the second reason, is to establish the variation in herbal remedy knowledge among the Yucatec Maya in Tabi, Yucatan, Mexico. Free listing and cultural consensus analysis revealed that knowledge about a few medicinal plants and herbal remedies was distributed widely among the Yucatec Maya in Tabi, whereas the majority of knowledge was idiosyncratic. This finding was consistent with other studies of herbal remedy knowledge distribution among indigenous groups in Latin America and Africa. Assessing patterns in the distribution of herbal remedy knowledge is an important next step in determining the degree of dynamism or erosion in knowledge acquisition and transmission in Tabi.

authors

• Hopkins, Allison

published proceedings

• Econ Bot

author list (cited authors)

• Hopkins, A., & Stepp, J. R.

citation count

• 16

complete list of authors

• Hopkins, Allison||Stepp, John Richard

publication date

• January 2012

publisher

• Springer Nature  Publisher

published in

• Economic Botany: devoted to applied botany and plant utilization  Journal

keywords

• Cultural Consensus Analysis
• Herbal Remedies
• Knowledge Distribution
• Medicinal Plants
• Mexico
• Socially Acquired Knowledge
• Traditional Medicine
• Yucatan
• Yucatec Maya

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1007/s12231-012-9202-7

start page

• 249

end page

• 254

volume

• 66

issue

• 3

URL

• http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1007%2Fs12231-012-9202-7