Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Changing Commodity Chains for Traditional Medicinal Plants: Tourism and Ayurveda in Kerala

研究生Chithprabha Kudlu在Glenn Davis Stone博士的指导下，将研究印度古老医学体系阿育吠陀的商品化，重点关注知识和信息控制的变化。这项研究将在喀拉拉邦进行，喀拉拉邦最近成为国际阿育吠陀旅游的主要中心。研究人员将跟踪植物商品从收集到消费，记录不同参与者在将原始植物转化为药物商品的过程中所起的作用的信息。研究设计包括跟踪七个指数植物，在初步研究中选择，因为植物从自然状态到消费药物。与此同时，研究人员将收集关于每个商品链层面的核心参与者的人种学信息：农民和收集者；原药经销商和代理商；草药批发经销商；药品生产企业;零售药店；医生诊所和旅游水疗中心；和消费者。在每个层面，她将收集参与者的知识和劳动贡献以及他们获得的社会和经济回报的信息。数据收集方法包括调查、访谈和参与观察。这项研究很重要，因为它将揭示日益标准化对正式和非正式知识流之间权力斗争的影响。这项研究还将有助于社会科学理解基于传统知识的商品链如何受到当代知识产权和医疗旅游观念的影响。此外，由于以这种方式出售的许多植物都是在公认的生物多样性热点地区发现的，因此该研究将为有效的环境保护提供所需的信息。最后，该奖项将支持研究生的研究，从而有助于科学教育。

Graduate student Chithprabha Kudlu, supervised by Dr. Glenn Davis Stone, will study the commodification of Ayurveda, an ancient medicine system of India, focusing on changes in knowledge and information control. The research will be conducted in the State of Kerala, which has recently become a main hub for international Ayurvedic tourism. The researcher will follow plant commodities from collection to consumption, recording information on the roles different actors play in converting raw plants into a medicine commodities. The research design includes tracking seven index plants, selected in preliminary study, as the plants move from their natural state to consumed medicine. At the same time, the researcher will collect ethnographic information about the central players at each commodity chain level: farmers and collectors; raw-drug dealers and agents; wholesale herb dealers; drug manufacturers; retail drug stores; medical practioner clinics and tourist spas; and consumers. At each level, she will collect information on participant contributions of knowledge and labor, and the social and economic returns they receive. Data collection methods include surveys, interviews, and participant observation. This research is important because it will shed light on the effects of increasing standardization on the power struggles between formal and informal streams of knowledge. The study also will contribute to social science understanding of how commodity chains based on traditional knowledge are affected by contemporary ideas of intellectual property and medical tourism. Furthermore, because many of the plants being sold in this way are found in a recognized Bio-Diversity Hotspot, the research will contribute information need for effective environmental conservation. Finally, this award will support research by a graduate student and thus contribute to science education.