Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Yucatec Maya Medicinal Plant Knowledge Variation and Social Networks

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate student Allison L. Hopkins, supervised by Dr. John R. Stepp, will undertake research on variability in traditional medicinal plant knowledge among the Yucatec Maya of Mexico, using a novel combination of cultural consensus and network analysis techniques. There has been considerable research interest in traditional medicinal plants both for their potential utility for modern medicine and because of what they can tell researchers about cultural knowledge systems. Medicinal plant knowledge, just like other types of cultural knowledge, varies within a cultural group. Recently, researchers have suggested social network analysis may be able to explain some of this variability. They have found that social networks comprise pathways through which socially acquired knowledge is transmitted. Therefore, people in different positions within the social network have access to different information, resulting in patterned variation in knowledge. Hopkins will extend this promising research direction by investigating the question of how much network structure (independently of characteristics of the individual) explains variation in medicinal plant knowledge across households in a Yucatec Maya community in Mexico. Hopkins will use free listing methods to gather data on ethnomedical conditions and medicinal plant treatments for those conditions. From the free lists, a knowledge test will be constructed, administered, and analyzed with cultural consensus analysis. The consensus score for each participant will summarize the distribution of knowledge within the community. Whole network and personal network data will be gathered and analyzed using social network analysis techniques. Finally, these two research strands will be integrated by using multiple regression to understand the influence of network structure variables on the distribution of knowledge. Combining social network and cultural consensus analyses is a new approach and it will allow Hopkins to identify individuals who are key players in the conveyance and conservation of traditional ecological knowledge, as well as the patterned variability of medicinal plant knowledge. The research is important because it deploys and tests a new research methodology. In addition, the research will contribute to understanding how traditional plant knowledge is communicated and conserved. The research also will contribute to the education of a social scientist. ________________________________________