Plants, Health and Healing: On the Interface of Ethnobotany and Medical Anthropology (Epistemologies of Healing Book 6)

Plants have cultural histories, as their applications change over time and with place. Some plant species have affected human cultures in profound ways, such as the stimulants tea and coffee from the Old World, or coca and quinine from South America. Even though medicinal plants have always attracted considerable attention, there is surprisingly little research on the interface of ethnobotany and medical anthropology. This volume, which brings together (ethno-)botanists, medical anthropologists and a clinician, makes an important contribution towards filling this gap. It emphasises that plant knowledge arises situationally as an intrinsic part of social relationships, that herbs need to be enticed if not seduced by the healers who work with them, that herbal remedies are cultural artefacts, and that bioprospecting and medicinal plant discovery can be viewed as the epitome of a long history of borrowing, stealing and exchanging plants. Plants have cultural histories, as their applications change over time and with place. Some plant species have affected human cultures in profound ways, such as the stimulants tea and coffee from the Old World, or coca and quinine from South America. Even though medicinal plants have always attracted considerable attention, there is surprisingly little research on the interface of ethnobotany and medical anthropology. This volume, which brings together (ethno- )botanists, medical anthropologists and a clinician, makes an important contribution towards filling this gap. It emphasises that plant knowledge arises situationally as an intrinsic part of social relationships, that herbs need to be enticed if not seduced by the healers who work with them, that herbal remedies are cultural artefacts, and that bioprospecting and medicinal plant discovery can be viewed as the epitome of a long history of borrowing, stealing and exchanging plants Plants In Medical Practice And Common Sense : On The Interface Of Ethnobotany And Medical Anthropology / Elisabeth Hsu -- Non-native Plants And Their Medicinal Uses / Stephen Harris -- Qing Hao (herba Artemisiae Annuae) In The Chinese Materia Medica / Elisabeth Hsu (in Consultation With Frédéric Obringer) -- Shamanic Plants And Gender In The Healing Forest / Françoise Barbira Freedman -- Persons, Plants And Relations : Treating Childhood Illness In A Western Kenyan Village / P. Wenzel Geissler And Ruth J. Prince -- East Goes West : Ginkgo Biloba And Dementia / John Grimley Evans -- Medicinal, Stimulant And Ritual Plant Use : An Ethnobotany Of Caffeine-containing Plants / Caroline S. Weckerle, Verena Timbul And Philip Blumenshine. Edited By Elisabeth Hsu And Stephen Harris. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.