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

本项目涉及一名来自夏威夷大学的人类学学生的论文研究。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。结合文化、生物人类学和自然科学的方法，学生将与当地原住民进行结构化和非结构化的访谈，收集药用植物的代金券标本，并对植物进行植物化学分析。需要验证的一个主要假设是，具有强烈化学感觉特性（颜色鲜艳、味道苦涩、香气刺鼻）的植物将被象征性地解释并青睐于药物。研究结果将深入了解利用自然森林项目进行治疗的土著系统，并将作为一种有可能与其热带森林栖息地一起消失的知识形式的宝贵案例研究。我们知识的进步将有助于地方规划者设计文化上适宜的保健服务，并将成为一个额外的案例，以增进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保健服务的一般理解。最后，这样的研究总是有可能发现一种新的有价值的治疗疾病的药物。

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.