Abstract Detail

Economic Botany Section

Scherer, Brendan [1], Emshwiller, Eve [2], Georgian, Elizabeth [3].

Relationships Between Age, Sex, and Location with Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Rhododendron Among the Naxi of Southwest China.

Various factors affect the variation of cultural knowledge. Using interviews focused on the ethnobotanical uses of Rhododendron by the Naxi ethnic minority in northwest Yunnan Province, China, we tested factors such as age, distance from tourist destination, and gender that may lead to variation of cultural knowledge. Approximately 30 interviews with members of the Naxi ethnic group were conducted from 2011-2012 to determine if there are certain people in a community who hold specific knowledge, or if specific knowledge is found in certain places. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analyses and linear regression analyses were conducted to look for correlations in the data. Our results suggest that certain types of ethnobotanical knowledge are held within different members of the same ethnic group. Naxi women tend to have greater knowledge of stories, myths, songs, and religious practices, while Naxi men tend to hold knowledge related to handicrafts, medicine, and food. Additionally, people further from a popular tourist destination tend to hold more knowledge of stories, myths, songs, and religious practices than Naxi people living closer to the tourist destination. In order to conserve this ethnobotanical knowledge it is important to include both genders and people from varying locations as not everyone in an ethnic group holds the same knowledge.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Botany, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI, 53726, USA
2 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Botany Dept, 321 Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
3 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Botany, Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI, 53726, USA

Keywords:
China
rhododendron
Naxi
Yunnan
NMDS
Linear Regression.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Grand Salon A - D/Riverside Hilton
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PEN005
Abstract ID:385
Candidate for Awards:None