DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Tzeltal Maya Folk Models for the Actions of Medicinal Plants

为了充分理解人与环境的相互作用是如何演变的，我们必须了解在没有西方科学技术的情况下，人类是如何对环境资源进行概念化的。这个项目涉及格鲁吉亚大学人类学学生的论文研究，将研究墨西哥恰帕斯州的Tzeltal玛雅印第安人如何理解植物的治疗作用。 民间模型的行动，24种常用的药用植物将在采访过程中构建一系列的Tzeltal讲线人。 然后将进行一项调查，评估民间模式是否为Tzeltal一般人口所共有。 研究产生的数据将用于测试有关人类与环境相互作用的假设，例如植物中发现的化合物的生物活性将与民间模型相关。 学生将提供她的研究结果的本地翻译，以便印度人的知识产权得到支持。将创造的新知识将对保健工作者有用，因为它将促进当地玛雅人和西方生物医学从业者之间关于健康问题的交流。这项研究将增加我们对自然进化的民间生物模型的了解，增加我们对世界这一重要地区的社会文化知识，并帮助培养一名年轻的社会科学家。

In order to fully understand how human-environment interactions have evolved we must learn how humans conceptualize environmental resources in the absence of western scientific technology. This project, involving the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Georgia, will study how the Tzeltal Maya Indians of Chiapas, Mexico understand the healing actions of plants. Folk models for the actions of 24 commonly used medicinal plants will be constructed during interviews with a range of Tzeltal-speaking informants. A survey will then assess whether the folk models are shared by the general Tzeltal population. The data generated by the research will be used to test hypotheses about human-environmental interactions, such as that the biological activities of compounds found in the plants will correlate with the folk models. The student will provide local translations of her findings so the intellectual property rights of the Indians will be supported. The new knowledge to be created will be useful to health care workers as it will facilitate communication about health issues between local Mayan and Western biomedical practitioners. This research will add to our knowledge of naturally-evolved folk biological models, our socio-cultural knowledge of this important region of the world and as well as help train a young social scientist