Subscribe to RSS
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1371719
Ethnobotany and its links to medical sciences and public health: quo vadis?
Subject Editor:
Publication History
Publication Date:
15 May 2014 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/phyto/201402/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-0034-1371719-1.jpg)
Zusammenfassung
Ethnobotanik und ihre Bedeutung für die Medizin und öffentliche Gesundheit: Quo vadis?
Ethnobotanik ist eine interdisziplinäre Fachrichtung, die die Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Pflanze untersucht. Entstanden im Zuge des Interesses an anthropologischen Fragestellungen im 19. Jh., kam es in der 1970er-Jahren zu einer Wiederbelebung durch die moderne Ethnobiologie. Zwei Trends dominieren die aktuelle Forschung: die klassische Ethnobotanik, welche die Verwendung von Heil- und wild wachsenden Nahrungspflanzen in möglichst isoliert lebenden ländlichen Gemeinschaften untersucht. Und sog. urbane Ethnobotanik, die die Verwendung solcher Pflanzen bei Migranten in westlichen städtischen Siedlungen erfasst. Während Erstere Informationen für den Umweltschutz, das kulturelle Erbe und die Arzneipflanzenforschung liefert, hilft die urbane Ethnobotanik, die Gesundheitsfürsorge von Migranten zu verbessern.
Summary
Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary science which investigates the relationships between plants and human societies. Born in the 19th century, on the wave of the anthropological sciences, the interest in folk practices related to plants had a revival in the 1970s with the establishment of modern ethnobiology. The current trends in medico-ethnobotanical research comprise two main directions: “classical ethnobotany“, which continues to investigate the medicinal and wild food plant knowledge among isolated and rural communities, and “urban ethnobotany“, which explores plant uses and perceptions among migrants in Western urban environments. While the former has particular relevance in the fields of environmental conservation, cultural heritage, and herbal sciences, the latter provides information crucial in shaping culturally sensitive approaches in the pluralistic provision of health care.
-
REFERENCES
- 1 Harshberger JW. The purposes of ethnobotany. Botanical Gazette 1896; 21: 146-154
- 2 Svanberg I, Łukasz Ł ed. Pioneers in European ethnobiology. Uppsala: Uppsala University; 2014
- 3 Svanberg I, Łuczaj Ł, Pardo-de-Santayana M, Pieroni A. History and current trends of ethnobiological research in Europe. In: Anderson EN, Pearsall D, Hunn E, Turner N, ed. Ethnobiology. Chichester UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. 191–214
- 4 von Luce JWL. Heilmittel der Ehsten auf der Insel Oesel. Pernau: Marquardt; 1829
- 5 Ferraro G. Botanica popolare di Carpeneto d‘Acqui. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari 1885; IV: 165-189
- 6 Ferraro G. Botanica popolare di Carpeneto d‘Acqui. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari 1885; IV
- 7 Ferraro G. Botanica popolare. Appunti presi a Carpeneto d‘Acqui, Provincia di Alessandria. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari 1884; III: 596-604
- 8 Glück L. Skizzen aus der Volksmedicin und dem medicinischen Aberglauben in Bosnien und der Hercegovina. Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina 1894; 2: 392-454
- 9 Talko-Hryncewicz J. Zarysy lecznictwa ludowego na Rusi Południowej Krakow: Nakł. Akademii Umiejętności 1893;
- 10 Berlin B, Breedlove DE, Raven PH. Covert categories and folk taxonomies. American Anthropologist 1968; 70: 290-299
- 11 Johns T. With bitter herbs they shall eat it. Chemical ecology and the origins of human diet and medicine. Tucson, USA: University of Tucson Press; 1990
- 12 Quave CL, Pardo-de-Santayana M, Pieroni A. Medical ethnobotany in Europe: from field ethnography to a more culturally sensitive evidence-based CAM?. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012; 2012: 156846
- 13 Berkes F. Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis; 1999
- 14 UNESCO. Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 2003;
- 15 Pieroni A, Giusti ME, Quave CL. Cross-cultural ethnobiology in the western Balkans: medical ethnobotany and ethnozoology among Albanians and Serbs in the Pešter Plateau, Sandžak, south-western Serbia. Human Ecology 2011; 39: 333-349
- 16 Pieroni A, Quave CL. Traditional pharmacopoeias and medicines among Albanians and Italians in southern Italy: A comparison. J Ethnopharmacol 2005; 101: 258-270
- 17 Nolan JM, Pieroni A. Ethnobiology and food security in a changing world. J Ethnobiol 2014; in press
- 18 WHO. WHO traditional medicine strategy: 2014–2023. Geneva: WHO; 2013
- 19 Reyes-García V. The relevance of traditional knowledge systems for ethnopharmacological research: theoretical and methodological contributions. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2010; 6: 32
- 20 Balick MJ, Kronenberg F, Ososki AL et al. Medicinal plants used by Latino healers for women‘s health conditions in New York City. Economic Botany 2000; 54: 344-357
- 21 de Medeiros PM, Soldati GT, Alencar NL et al. The use of medicinal plants by migrant people: adaptation, maintenance, and replacement. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012; 2012: 807452
- 22 Vandebroek I, Balick MJ. Globalization and loss of plant knowledge: Challenging the paradigm. PLoS ONE 2012; 7
- 23 Ceuterick M, Vandebroek I, Pieroni A. Resilience of Andean urban ethnobotanies: a comparison of medicinal plant use among Bolivian and Peruvian migrants in the United Kingdom and in their countries of origin. J Ethnopharmacol 2011; 136: 27-54
- 24 Vandebroek I, Balick MJ, Ososki A et al. The importance of botellas and other plant mixtures in Dominican traditional medicine. J Ethnopharmacol 2010; 128: 20-41
- 25 Ceuterick M, Vandebroek I, Torry B, Pieroni A. Cross-cultural adaptation in urban ethnobotany: The Colombian folk pharmacopoeia in London. J Ethnopharmacol 2008; 120: 342-359
- 26 Pieroni A, Vandebroek I ed. Traveling cultures and plants. The ethnobiology and ethnopharmacy of human migrations. New York: Berghahn; 2007
- 27 Sandhu DS, Heinrich M. The use of health foods, spices and other botanicals in the sikh community in London. Phytother Res 2005; 19: 633-642
- 28 Yöney A, Prieto JM, Lardos A, Heinrich M. Ethnopharmacy of Turkish-speaking Cypriots in greater London. Phytother Res 2010; 24: 731-740
- 29 van Andel T, Westers P. Why Surinamese migrants in the Netherlands continue to use medicinal herbs from their home country. J Ethnopharmacol 2010; 127: 694-701
- 30 Pieroni A, Sheikh QZ, Ali W, Torry B. Traditional medicines used by Pakistani migrants from Mirpur living in Bradford, Northern England. Complement Ther Med 2008; 16: 81-86
- 31 Pieroni A, Houlihan L, Ansari N et al. Medicinal perceptions of vegetables traditionally consumed by South-Asian migrants living in Bradford, Northern England. J Ethnopharmacol 2007; 113: 100-110
- 32 Ellena R, Quave CL, Pieroni A. Comparative medical ethnobotany of the Senegalese community living in Turin (northwestern Italy) and in Adeane (southern Senegal). Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012; 2012: 604363
- 33 Pieroni A, Muenz H, Akbulut M et al. Traditional phytotherapy and trans-cultural pharmacy among Turkish migrants living in Cologne, Germany. J Ethnopharmacol 2005; 102: 69-88
- 34 Pieroni A, Gray C. Herbal and food folk medicines of the Russlanddeutschen living in Künzelsau/Taläcker, south-western Germany. Phytother Res 2008; 22: 889-901
- 35 Pieroni A, Quave CL, Santoro RF. Folk pharmaceutical knowledge in the territory of the Dolomiti Lucane, inland southern Italy. J Ethnopharmacol 2004; 95: 373-384
- 36 Pieroni A, Nedelcheva A, Hajdari A et al. Local knowledge on plants and domestic remedies in the mountain villages of Peshkopia (eastern Albania). J Mountain Sci 2014; 11: 180-194