Anthropology Colloquium Series - UH Manoa

Local Knowledge Of Ethnomedicines
Insights & Implications For Human And Ecosystem Health In Tanga, Tanzania

Heather McMillen, PhD
People and Plants International

3:00 pm • 5 February 2009 • Crawford 105

In Tanga, Tanzania, as in many places around the world, ethnomedicine is based on native, locally harvested plants. Although they are known to be collected at increasing rates, not much is known about their future availability. Their over-harvest can have serious consequences for human health, culture, livelihoods, and ecological health. In this presentation I will describe local ethnomedical systems in Tanga—the context that gives these plants meaning. Next, I will discuss a range of culturally based local ecological knowledge on the potency of plant medicines, traditional pre- and proscriptions for harvest, and other harvesting strategies. I will then explain my findings which call for a reexamination of some assumptions about local ecological knowledge—what it is, who holds it, and how it relates to harvest and management practices. I will conclude by reviewing the ecological implications of such practices.

Heather McMillen’s research overlaps medical anthropology and applied ethnobotany. She graduated from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a PhD in Anthropology and a certificate in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology in 2008. Over the past ten years she has conducted research in Tanzania on the use of medicinal plants, interactions between local ethnomedical practitioners and biomedical practitioners (especially in the context of HIV/AIDS), medicinal plant markets, and the conservation implications of medicinal plant harvesting. Heather has also conducted research in Hawai‘i (USA) on community based human and ecosystem health projects.

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Event Sponsor
Anthropology Dept-UH/Manoa, Manoa Campus

More Information
Marti Kerton, 956-7153, anthprog@hawaii.edu, www.anthropology.hawaii.edu

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