The study investigates traditional knowledge of forest plants in a community (La Quetzal) inhabited by people who returned to Guatemala at the end of the civil war, after 10–12 years in exile in Southern Mexico, and now are in the process of constructing a new community in the Lacandon jungle in the Petén, Guatemala. We ask if the basis of knowledge and the use of natural resources change when people migrate. The relevance of vascular plant diversity for consumption and other daily needs of the population is explored. Relatively few species are presently used, with the exception of timber species, where knowledge seems to be increasing. Traditional knowledge has been maintained in certain areas such as medicine. Nature as such is regarded as important primarily as potential monetary capital and not for its subsistence capital. We find that the refugee situation has led to the introduction of global consumption patterns. Still there continues to be a dynamic local intuitive knowledge arising directly from practical experiences. Two interlinked factors have been the driving forces altering the knowledge and the use of natural resources by the people in La Quetzal: Change in the natural environment and change in the social and economic environment.
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It should be remembered that migration is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the enormous scale of migration. According to ILO, the number of international labor migrants is now approaching 100 million (ILO, 2003). If we add refugees and internally displaced people, the number becomes much higher.
The study on which this paper is based is affiliated to and draws on results from the anthropological research program “Forced migration and social reconstruction among returned refugees in Petén, Guatemala,” and seeks to contribute to the policies of sustainable management of natural resources in the context of migrating people settling in a different/new natural environment.
URNG is a coalition of the three guerrilla groups, EGP (Ejercito Guerrillero del Pueblo), FAR (Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes) and ORPA (Organización Revolucionaria de Pueblo en Armas) and the communist party PGT (Partido Guatemalteco de Trabajo), established in 1982.
The following Mayan languages are spoken in the community: q′eqchi′, q′anjob′al, mam, popti′, k′iché, chuj, ixil and ch′orti′. The first five are spoken by rather large groups of people, the last three by only a few persons.
The returnees bought an old finca (farm) that had been in private hands since the 1970s, at the same time as it had become part of the MBR. Eventually, they succeeded in legalizing the purchase, aqreeing to a series of rules and regulations associated with protected areas.
Anthropological fieldwork was carried out between 1998 and 2002, while the ethnobotanical fieldwork was carried out between November 1999 and November 2000.
When this sample was made, the social anthropologist had been living and working in the community for several months and had acquired comprehensive knowledge of the sociocultural conditions.
A survey was also conducted in home gardens, using the same questions as for the forest plots. The results will be the subject of another paper. Here the survey provided additional knowledge on the general importance of plant species in the community (Nesheim, unpublished data).
Mal de ojo is believed to affect children, especially small ones, as a result from a glare or stare (deliberate or accidental) from another person. Pregnant women, drunkards, and people who are mentally retarded are believed to be particularly dangerous.
Susto is the result of shock or fright, believed to cause the blood to circulate slowly; symptoms are an excess of sleep, lack of appetite, elevated temperature, thirst and weeping.
The translation of “quebradura de hueso” is bone fracture but the meaning of the word is pain in the bones/body.
This number leaves out the timber species sold by the cooperative, as the focus is on the individual level.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the organization Centro Maya, the Biology Department at the University of San Carlo, and the Consejo Nacional de Areas protegidas, CONAP, for assistance and collaboration when in Guatemala. Thanks are also due to Robin Foster at the Field Museum in Chicago, Ron Liesner at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Caroline Withford at the Natural History Museum, London, for help with the identification of the plant collection, and Renske Ek at the University of Utrecht for valuable comments and support. Above all, the authors would like to thank the people in community La Quetzal (the cooperative Union Maya Itzá) for their hospitality and assistance during fieldwork. Without their collaboration this work could not have been done. This research is part of the Management of Biodiversity research group at The Centre for Development and The Environment, SUM University of Oslo. The project is financed by the Norwegian Research Council.
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Nesheim, I., Dhillion, S.S. & Anne Stølen, K. What Happens to Traditional Knowledge and Use of Natural Resources When People Migrate?. Hum Ecol 34, 99–131 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-9004-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-9004-y