Dissertation Improvement: Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Communication Networks: An Interactionist Approach to Understanding Indigenous Education in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico

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This research project, to be conducted by a doctoral student in Anthropology at the University of Georgia, contributes to an understanding of some of the processes of knowledge acquisition and transfer in formal and informal social contexts. Plant knowledge diversity and consensus are hypothesized to be correlated with variation in the structure of communication networks and community interaction patterns. Qualitative and quantitative techniques are used to test these hypotheses and document variation in ethnobotanical knowledge and change in several Raramuri (Tarahumara) communities in Chihuahua, Mexico. The project identifies environmental factors contributing to differential botanical expertise among children and adults at three levels of interaction: 1) the social interaction patterns between households; 2) a child's immediate environment interactions, both biophysical and sociocultural; and 3) a child's personal characteristics and social roles. Results will contribute to the development of an interactionist model of indigenous education, and to understanding the relationships between individual learning and community processes of change. It will also contribute to ongoing Raramuri biocultural conservation efforts and to the design of effective environmental education projects.