Proposal for a Thesis in Anthropology
Catherine Bolten ’98
The research project that I propose to do is a continuation of an independent project I conducted last semester while abroad in Botswana, and intend to turn into a thesis. Last November and December, I spent four weeks learning about the uses of medicinal plants by a traditional healer in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. He taught me how to identify medicinal plants, which parts of the plants were useful, how to collect them, and how to prepare and administer the remedy. After we had collected as many specimens as he could find, I prepared the remedies and tested as many of them as possible in order to determine certain chemical properties, and in some cases, the effectiveness of the remedy.
He also gave me many insights into the ways of his culture, the history of his tribe, and the way both are in transition due to the ever-present influences of western culture, religion, and medicine. I feel that these were very valuable in understanding the relationship between delta people and their unique environment. It is also an incredible opportunity to record indigenous knowledge about plants and the environment in general that may be useful in saving what is now a critically endangered ecosystem and culture.
My informant was not happy that I had to leave after only a month of study, and asked me several times to return so he could continue to teach me everything his father taught him. It is my intention to return to him to complete my “training”, then to move to a different village in order to obtain the same kind of information from a different doctor; thereby gaining a broader base of knowledge. Medicinal ethnobotany is a field of study that must be undertaken in this area immediately because the knowledge of traditional healers is disappearing quickly. This being the case, I want to find out as much as possible about the traditional uses of plants by the Yei, one of the tribes inhabiting the Okavango Delta, before the area is overrun completely by westernization and disinterest of the younger generations to their own traditions.
In order to continue my research, I would like to spend about eight weeks in the Okavango Delta in June and July of 1997. I began this study in November, which is the dry season in the delta. The delta floods in April, so the environment would be entirely different from the one I first studied. This fact would allow me to compare the different medicines available at different times of year. I need eight to ten weeks in order to both finish my research with my first informant, for which I am allowing four weeks, and to seek the knowledge of another informant (with whom I have already established contact), which I assume will take another four to six weeks. I do not require any more time with the second informant because I do not have to spend additional time establishing contact, and I will not be spending as much time with him on the particulars of remedy preparation. From him I am simply ascertaining how and why his knowledge is different from that of my primary informant, as well as picking his brain about the socio-biological connotations of westernization versus traditional lifestyles, and how they effect the delta’s cultural and natural environment.
Catherine Bolten ’98
Thesis Proposal
Outline for Research conducted in the Okavango Delta:
1. Medicinal Plant Research
A. held identification and sampling
1. plant identification
2. range end habitat
3. remedies made from plant
4. part of the plant used
5. how useful part is collected
B. Preparation and tests of remedies
1. how remedy is prepared
2. how long it is boiled/steamed/baked, etc.
3. dosage amount, time intervals, extent of treatment”2″>
4. taste test for presence of alkaloids (or litmus test) is there a field test for sterols and tannins?
5. sample specific remedies to test effectiveness
6. treatment of symptoms versus curing the problem
C. Documentation of superstitions surrounding remedies– are the stories and
taboos grounded in medical evidence? (can only be done for remedies tested
for effectiveness)
II. Social Science Research
A. Personal and family history of the doctor(s)
B. History of the tribe
C. History of traditional doctors in the tribe
D. Profile of a Doctor
1. relationship to the community members
2. competition between doctors
3. pride, status, wealth, and “respect”
4. day doctors and night doctors
E. The teaching process
1. how information is passed through generations
2. is the medicine ever refined or altered?
3. are new remedies found?
F. The role of the doctor in the tribe
1. in the past
2. in the present
3. in the future?
G. Is this knowledge in danger of disappearing?
1. role of western culture
2. role of western religion
3. role of western medicine
4. his outlook on the future
III. Conservation Biology– How Indigenous Knowledge Saves Cultures and Ecosystems
A. Changes in the Natural Environment Noted By the Doctor(s)
1. Plants that are disappearing/dying and why
2. Changes in the animal communities
3. The role of drought in altering the ecosystem
a. short-term modificationsb. long-term changes
4. The role of elephants in altering the ecosystem
a. favorite browsing plant
b. role in altering channels and “elephant holes”
Megamenu Social