Dissertation Research: Cultural and Biological Significance of Indigenous Ethnomedicine in Kalimantan, Indonesia

本项目涉及夏威夷大学一名人类学专业学生的学位论文研究。该学生将调查印度尼西亚加里曼丹一个传统社区的民族医学和民族植物学知识的性质。学生将结合文化、生物人类学和自然科学的方法，对当地原住民进行结构化和非结构化的采访，收集药用植物的凭证标本，并对植物进行植物化学分析。一个需要检验的主要假设是，具有强烈化学感官特性(颜色鲜艳、味道苦涩、气味刺鼻)的植物将被象征性地解释并被用作药物。这些成果将深入了解土著系统利用天然林项目进行治疗的情况，并将成为一种知识形式及其热带森林栖息地面临消失危险的宝贵案例研究。我们知识的进步将有助于当地规划者设计符合文化背景的卫生服务，并将成为一个额外的案例，以提高我们对如何向对健康因果关系和治疗有不同理解的传统民族提供生物医学卫生服务的总体理解。最后，像这样的研究总是有可能发现一种治疗疾病的新的、有价值的药物。

This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Hawaii. The student will investigate the nature of the ethnomedical and ethnobotanical knowledge of a traditional community in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Combining methods from cultural and biological anthropology and natural science, the student will conduct structured and unstructured interviews with local indigenous people, collect voucher specimens of medicinal plants, and do phytochemical analysis of the plants. A major hypothesis to be tested is that plants with strong chemosensory properties (bright color, bitter flavor, pungent aroma) will be symbolically interpreted and favored for medicines. The results will be an in-depth picture of the indigenous system for using natural forest projects in healing, and will serve as a valuable case study of a form of knowledge that is in danger of disappearing along with its tropical forest habitat. The advance in our knowledge will be useful to local planners in designing culturally appropriate health services, and will be an additional case available to improve our general understanding of how to deliver biomedical health services to traditional peoples with different understandings of health causality and treatment. Finally, there is always the possibility that a study such as this will discover a new and valuable drug treatment for disease.