Biocultural landscape and Mazahua herbal medicine: the case of two communities in the State of Mexico
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Abstract
Indigenous groups possess environmental knowledge that allows them to identify the landscape as a supplier of goods to meet needs such as food, clothing, housing and health. The present study has a biogeographic approach that aims to identify the traditional Mazahua herbalism in the biocultural landscape of two communities of the State of Mexico. Documentary research and semi-structured interviews were applied via digital media to contact the communities. The study shows that women of both communities give meaning to their environment by using it to care for their families’ and communities’ health; it highlights their knowledge and preservation of medicinal plants, which is part of their biocultural landscape manifested in the cultivation of medicinal plant and the conservation of communal collection sites where they obtain medicinal plants. The study also shows that the cultivation and collection sites of medicinal plants are also used for other purposes, which shows the biocultural nature of the landscape.