Knowledge and Use of Plant Species by Mayan Indians of Chiapas, Mexico

本提案将描述墨西哥恰帕斯高原的玛雅人对药用植物的知识和使用。这项研究的长期目标是对高原地区土著Tzeltal族和Tzotzil族认为具有药用价值的植物物种编制一份详细的比较清单，并确定那些因其潜在有益特性而值得进行化学评价的物种；用西方生物医学术语识别和描述在公认的民间疗法中使用药用植物治疗的民间疾病综合征；为治疗公认的当地种类的痛苦和疾病，制作植物来源药物的制备和使用的文字、录音和录像；以英语、西班牙语、Tzeltal语和Tzotzil语出版多语言图集和民族医学百科全书，比较民族植物学知识和药用植物用途的区域差异，这些差异反映在植物物种的差异分布、民族医学和民族植物学命名法、治疗的疾病类型，制备方法及使用方法。这项研究将在恰帕斯州和地方公共卫生服务代表的积极合作下进行。这项广泛研究的结果将有助于编纂传统医学知识对土著和非土著人民的重要意义，因为这种知识的丧失受到迅速的经济和社会变革的严重威胁。这种类型的研究很重要，因为对自然的特定民间系统的分析有助于我们理解一般的知识系统。

This proposal will describe the knowledge and uses of medical plants by the Mayan peoples of the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The long-term objectives of the research are to produce a detailed comparative inventory of those plant species deemed to have medicinal value by the indigenous Tzeltal and Tzotzil peoples of the highland region, and identify those species that merit chemical evaluation because of their potentially beneficial properties; to identify and describe in Western bio-medical terms the folk syndromes of illness for which medicinal plants are employed in recognized folk remedies; to develop textual, audio- and video-taped recordings of the preparation and administration of plant-derived medications for the recognized native categories of affliction and disease; and to publish a multilingual, illustrated atlas and ethnomedical encyclopedia in English, Spanish, Tzeltal and Tzotzil that compares regional variation in ethnobotanical knowledge and uses of medicinal plants as reflected in the differential distribution of plant species, ethnomedical and ethnobotanical nomenclature, type of affliction treated, and methods of preparation and application. The research will be conducted with the active collaboration of state and local representatives of the Chiapas Public Health Service. The results of this broad study will serve to codify the significance of traditional medical knowledge for both indigenous and non-native peoples at a time when the loss of this knowledge is seriously threatened by rapid economic and social change. This type of research is important because the analysis of specific folk systems of nature helps us to understand knowlege systems in general.