Personal Connection to My Topic

I  have always been interested in natural healing and wanted to get other people interested in it too because I don't like the idea of depending on pharmacies or other lab made medicines. Also, many people in my family use medicinal plants and taught me the importance of using them at a young age. As the knowledge and use of medicinal plants goes down, the more urgently it needs to be taught.

How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscape

By: B. Toastie

In the article,”How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscapes”, Toastie talks about how memories and stories are connected to lans. A key point in this article is “place identity”, which refers to the relation that one has with a landscape and the feelings associated with it. This article tells how Natives name land based on history and stories of the land. In the European way, they usually name places after colonizers or males. Toastie also acknowledged the fact that all land has stories connected to it.

And Then I went to School

By: Joe Suina

In the article “And Then I Went to School” Joe Suina shares her experience of growing up in Cochiti Pueblo before technology and school. Before, she felt happy and comfortable at her pueblo house with her grandma. She did not have technology and only spoke her language. She was then sent to a boarding school where she learned to hate herself and her culture. Suina also suggests that technology changed the pueblo way of life drastically.

Healing Ways

By: Native Voices

In the article “healing ways” by Native voices, the history of Native healers and plants is discussed. The article also tells how these healing practices are still relevant in today's world and how different tribes maintain the use of medicinal plants. Also, the article explains the impact that western culture and medicine has had on Native perspectives of health and healing. “Medicinal plants and their applications are as diverse as the tribes you use them. 

Medicine and Health

By: Emory Dean Keoke, Kay Marie Porterfield

In the book “Medicine and Health” by Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield, readers learn the history of Native Americans' relationship with medicinal plants. Natives had highly sophisticated ways in which they grew, harvested, and used medicinal herbs. Before the arrival of Columbus, indigenous peoples used antiseptics to minimize pain during operations like brain surgery and skin grafts. In the northwest, natives used bark from the Pacific Yew tree to heal internal injuries, wounds, and cancers. Today, the plants used by healers from native tribes are still being studied. 

Keoke, Emory Dean, and Kay Marie Porterfield, American Indian contributions to the world;medicine and health. Facts on file, 2005. Pg 1-20

Traditional medicine has a long history of contributing to conventional medicine and continues to hold promise

By: World Health Organization

In the article “Traditional medicine has a long history of contributing to conventional medicine and continues to hold promise” by the World Health Organization, readers learn how medicinal plants have been relevant in healing in survival since the beginning of human existence. Today, medicinal plants are seen as pre-scientific because of the more modern and efficient, science based medicine. However, without the history, practice, and experiences with plants, today's conventional medicine would not be as advanced because “40% of pharmaceutical products today draw from nature and traditional knowledge”. All over the world, from China, to Egypt, medicinal plants have played a huge role in the advancement of human civilization. 

“Traditional medicine has a long history of contribution to conventional medicine and continues to hold promise”.(WHO), 10 August 2023

How to Become an Herbalist

By: Traditional Medicinals

 In the article "How to Become an Herbalist" readers learn how one can become an herbalist and what it takes to be one. Herbalists dedicate their lives to working with and understanding medicinal plants. In the United States, there are over 20 different schools that one could attend to become an herbalist. However, if you do not want to attend school you can become an herbalist by self studying. By reading this article, I gained insight on what being an herbalist is like and what it means to be one. I know of herbalists in my community but never thought about how much dedication and knowledge of plants they need to have to do what they do. Also, I learned that there are over 20 schools that I could research and attend to become an herbalist. Also, I learned that herbalists consist of scientists, traditional healers, holistic doctors, etc.

“How to become an Herbalist”. Traditional Medicinals, 3 August, 2021.

Medicinal Plants at Risk

By: Anna Morata and Julie Miller

In the article "Medicinal Plants at Risk" readers learn about how medicinal plants are becoming extinct because of things like habitat destruction and overharvesting. Because of this, Indigenous people are losing medicine that they have used for generations. “At current extinction rates, experts estimate the earth is losing at least one potential major drug every two years.” Many medicinal plants are worth a lot of money so they are often overharvested and exploited by people/companies. After reading the article, I learned how many medicinal plants are at risk of extinction. Also, it is interesting to me that we lose a potential major drug every two years. Reading this article makes me think about how we could possibly have a cure to a major disease/illness like cancer but instead we might never have one now because a plant went extinct.

“Medicinal Plants at risk”, Center for Biological diversity, 6 September, 2022

Wild Medicinal Plants of Northern New Mexico

By: Rob Hawley

In the article "Wild Medicinal Plants of Northern New Mexico"  Rob talks about the importance of various plants that are unique to New Mexico. Some of these plants include Sagebrush, Betony, and Blue Vervain. Betony and Blue Vervain are known to calm you down and help you rest. Betony also relaxes smooth and stri-ated muscles. Sagebrush is known to help with the esophagus and digestion system. After reading this article, I learned that most plants have a very wide variety of uses and chemical properties that effect different things in the human body. I also gained more information about some plants that are unique to New Mexico and how they are used. I did not know that some plants are so rare that they are only found in certain regions of a state. Also, I learned about what to look for when picking and harvesting medicinal plants. For example, you must be aware of the surrounding plants because they could potentially be poisonous and affect the plant that you are trying to harvest.

Greenfield, Robin.”Wild Medicinal Plants of Northern New Mexico by Rob Hawley''. Youtube, 27 May 2015.

Medicinal Knowledge Vanishes as Indigenous Languages Die

By: Sofia Moutinho

In the article,"Medicinal Knowledge Vanishes as Indigenous Languages Die" by Moutinho, the topics of language and medicinal plants are discussed. In the 1980's the Matapi people of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest were relocated forcibly onto a reservation where their already dying culture withered further. Today, there is only about 70 members of the tribe. As their language is lost, the knowledge of the environment and medicinal plants is getting lost as well. "We are losing the essence of our spiritual knowledge of medicinal plants" says Uldarico, the last shaman of the Matapi tribe. In North America, Northwestern Amazon. and New Guinea, researchers found 12,000 medicinal uses for over 3000 plants known by the people who speak the 250 languages" which is a "knowledge that resides in only  one of these languages" which is "a Knowledge that cannot be translated into other languages".

Sofia Moutinho. medicinal knowledge vanishes as indigenous languages die. Youtube 21 October, 2023

Traditional use of Medicinal Plants in the Boreal Forest of Canada:Review and Perspectives

By: Yadav Uprety

In the article,"Traditional use of Medicinal Plants in the Boreal Forest of Canada:Review and Perspectives" by Yadav Uprety the aboriginal people of the region are losing knowledge about medicinal plant and healthcare systems. Much of this knowledge is passed down by oral tradition which is slowly fading away due to cultural change. A total of 546 medicinal plants are known to be used by these aboriginal people used for treating 28 diseases and disorder categories. "The medicinal knowledge of Aboriginal peoples of the western canadian boreal forest has been given considerably less attention by researchers. "This is a major issue because the documentation of this knowledge may soon be the only way of knowing about the medicinal properties of the plants found in this region.

Uprety, Yadav, et al. Traditional use of Medicinal Plants in the Boreal Forest of Canada:Review and Perspectives-Journey of Ethnobiology and ethnomedicine,n 30 January, 2012.

Neglect of African Medicine and Medicinal plants

By: This is Africa

In the video, "Neglect of African Medicine and Medicinal plants" by This is Africa, 70% of the African population still uses medicinal plants. In this region, many people have not interacted with the western way of life including western medicine. Since the process of getting a plant medicine into market is expensive, takes a long time, and because many people see herbalism as a hobby rather than a way of life, African healers are often marginalized or not taken seriously. Another issue is that because western medicine is the most widely used and superior medicine, "African medicinal plants and healing methods have been left to carter for the 'socially inept' and the poor".

This is Africa, Neglect of African Medicine and Medicinal Plants, youtube, 16 may, 2019