Zapotec plant knowledge: classification, uses and communication about plants in Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Messer, Ellen

Book

Zapotec plant knowledge: classification, uses and communication about plants in Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Xerox University Micofilms • Ann Arbor • Published In 1979 • Pages:

By: Messer, Ellen.

Abstract
This document offers a thorough description and analysis of the classification and uses of plants in Mitla, including both cultivated and wild species. Attention is focused on the sociology of botanical knowledge, examining how familiarity with plants and their uses is acquired, variability in levels of knowledge by age, occupation and income level, ways in which the system of classification accommodates change, and ways in which socio-economic change is altering modes of plant use. A great deal of information is presented on the conceptualization of health and disease in Mitla, with rich data on self-diagnosis and treatment, consultation with various types of medical specialists, and uses of dietary, plant and non-plant remedies. The hot/cold classification system is discussed at length in this context. Information on this system will be found in a number of OCMs as follows: 820 for general statements; 772 for cosmological aspects of the system; 171 for historical and other comparative aspects; 824 for plant classification; 826 for characterizations of the body in these terms; 827 for descriptions of bodily reactions; 753 for data on thermal imbalance as a cause of illness; 757 and 755 for diagnosis and treatment of such illness; 278 for hot/cold classification of patent and other non-herbal remedial substances; 261 for general ideas about food in these terms; and 262 for dietary data.

Ideas about nature and people

Pharmaceuticals

Diet

Collecting

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Zapotec

HRAF PubDate

2009