Transformation of Local Medicinal Knowledge in the Andean Highlands: Case studies from Peru and Bolivia


In the Andean highlands, local environmental knowledge is currently undergoing major changes as a result of various external and internal factors. As in other parts of the world, an overall process of erosion of local knowledge can be observed. In response to this trend, some initiatives that adopt a biocultural approach aim at actively strengthening local identities and revalorizing local environmental knowledge and practices, assuming that such practices can contribute to more sustainable management of biodiversity. However, these initiatives usually lack a sound research basis, as few studies have focused on the dynamics of local environmental knowledge in the Andes and on its links with biodiversity management. Against this background, the general objective of this research project was to contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of local environmental knowledge in the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia by investigating how local medicinal knowledge is socially differentiated within rural communities, how it is transformed, and which external and internal factors influence these transformation processes.

The project adopted an actor-oriented perspective and emphasized the concept of knowledge dialogue by analyzing the integration of the formal and traditional medicinal systems within family health seeking strategies. It also aimed at grasping some of the links between the dynamics of medicinal knowledge and the types of land use systems and biodiversity management. Research was conducted in two case study areas of the Andes, both Quechua-speaking and situated in comparable agro-ecological production belts - Pitumarca District, Department of Cusco (Southern Peruvian Highlands) and Waca Playa Sub-central, Department of Cochabamba (Bolivian inner-Andean valleys). In each case study area, the land use systems and strategies of 18 families from two rural communities, their environmental knowledge related to medicine and to the local therapeutic flora, and an appreciation of the dynamics of this knowledge were assessed. Data were collected through a combination of disciplinary and participatory action-research methods. It was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative tools.

The study shows that the community of residence, age, intra-generational kin relations, migratory activity and market integration influence the distribution of medicinal plant knowledge.Surprisingly and contrary to general assertions among local NGOs and researchers, results show that there is not a loss of Andean medicinal knowledge within the younger generation, who value this knowledge as an important element of their way of life and relationship with “Mother Earth” (Pachamama).

The influence of the formal health system on Andean medicinal knowledge varies in each case study area. In the Bolivian case, where it was only introduced in the 1990s and access to it is still very limited, the main impact was to give local communities access to contraceptive methods and to vaccination. In the Peruvian case, the formal system had a much greater impact on families’ health practices, due to local and national policies that, for instance, practically prohibit some traditional practices such as home birth. But in both cases, Andean medicine still constitutes the preferred option for the families interviewed because biomedicine is not considered capable of responding to culture-bound illnesses such as “fear” (susto), “bad air” (malviento), or “anger” (colerina). Furthermore, knowledge about natural remedies and their use for culture-bound illnesses is much higher in Pitumarca than in Waca Playa, refuting the commonly held assumption that the formal health sector displaces traditional medicine.

Andean medicinal knowledge proved to be localized, dynamic, resilient, capable of coexisting with other knowledge systems, and a marker of cultural identity. These findings reflect a more general trend in the Andes, where indigenous communities are currently actively revalorizing their knowledge and taking up traditional practices, thus strengthening their indigenous collective identities in a process of cultural resistance.

Collecting medicinal plants in Waca Playa, Bolivia

 

Prudencion Ccanchi, Andean Healer from Pitumarca, Peru, showing medicinal plants

 

Contact:

Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel
Centre for Development and Environment
Institute of Geography, University of Berne
web: www.cde.unibe.ch

Jr. Melgar 282, Barranco
Lima, Peru
e-mail: sarah-lan.stiefel@cde.unibe.ch

Partner institutions:

AGRUCO
(Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba)
Universidad de Cochabamba
Av. Petrolera Km 4 ½
Cochabamba, Bolivia
e-mail: agruco@agurco.org
web: www.agruco.org

ETC Andes
(Ecología, Tecnología y Cultura en los Andes)
Juan Bielovucic 1391
Lima 14, Peru
e-mail: etcandes@etcandes.com.pe
web: www.etcandes.com.pe