Week 14

1. Read about the work of Arika.

2. Take notes on guest speakers research in Mekong region. Questions will be asked about the research on the final exam.

3. Be sure to have read and be able to present at least two papers for the class in 2-5 minutes.

[tli] Virapongse, Arike, and Chayan Picheansoonthon. 2005. Researching traditional medicine: A review and evaluation of methodology and objectives. Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand 30 (4):958-969 [tli].

[ln] Chaudhary, M. I., He, Q., Cheng, Y. Y., & Xiao, P. G. 2006. Ethnobotany of medicinal plants from Tian Mu Shan biosphere reserve, Zhejiang-Privince, China. Asian Journal of Plant Sciences, 5(4): 646 - 653. [ln]

[mr] Soejarto, D.D. et al. 2006. "Studies on Biodiversity of Vietnam and Laos" 1998-2005: Examining the Impact. Journal of Natural Products 69(3): 473-481. [mr]

4. Submit a written review of one article following the instructions provided by the instructor. Attach your reviews below; hard copies will not be accepted. Be sure to upload your articles (not just links). The evaluation rubric has also been posted.

[tli] Xu, Jianchu, Erzi T. Ma, Duojie Tashi, Yongshou Fu, Zhi Lu, and David Melick. 2005. Integrating Sacred Knowledge for Conservation: Cultures and Landscapes in Southwest China. Ecology and Society 10(2):7.

Article Review [tli]

[ln] Dieu, H. K., Loc, C. B., Yamasaki, S., & Hirata, Y. (2006). The effects of Pseuderanthemum palatiferum, a new medical plant, on growth performances and diarrhea of piglets. JARQ, 40(1): 85-91.

Article Review [ln]

[arb] Rao, M.R., M.C. Palada, B.N. Becker. (2004) Medicinal and aromatic plants in agroforestry systems. Agroforestry systems. 61: 107–122

review atached below [arb]

[mr] Santasombat, Y. 2004. Karen Cultural Capital and the Political Economy of Symbolic Power. Asian Ethnicity 5(1): 105-120. review here. [mr]

[fig] Chaveerach, A., Mokamuul, P., Sudmoon, R., Tawatchai, T. 2006. Ethnobotany of the Genus Piper (Piperaceae) in Thailand.

Ethnobotany Research and Applications. 4:223-231.

Review [fig]

5. Class Scenario Exercise (To be led by Arika)

Instructions

For the first 30 minutes of class, you will be asked to consider the following scenario in groups of 4-5 people. Then you will be asked to present, compare and debate your solutions.

Scenario Background

You would like to conduct a traditional medicine study on 20 traditional healers of an ethnic group called the Khmu in Northeast Thailand. You have one year to complete the project and you estimate that you will visit each healer approximately 10 times each. You are being hosted by Khon Kaen University-- the largest university in Northeast Thailand—at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

1. You know that the Khmu are located in the provinces of Roi Et, Mukdahan, and Yasothon. There is no literature which identifies the exact location of the group within these provinces. What is your plan for identifying which are the Khmu villages? [The political hierarchy for communities in Thailand is: house (bahn), village (moo bahn), sub-district (tambom), district (amphur). province (changwat).]
2. Devise a plan to identify the most knowledgeable traditional healers in these villages.
3. Since you don’t feel very confident about your language and cultural skills, you feel that field assistants are a necessary component for your study. Where will you find these assistants? What kind of offer can you make them?
4. After you’ve identified the names of traditional healers, you want to initiate contact with them so that you can begin your data collection on traditional medicine practices and plant remedies. What steps should you take to begin work in the village?
5. You visit an herbal healer for the first time. He has agreed to work with you and you conduct an interview which elicits some local names for plants. You would like to return to collect some plants with him which you believe will take about 3 hours of walking in the nearby forests. You know that you should compensate this healer for his time. What can you do in return for him?
6. There is one herbalist who you have visited twice—he has already agreed to work with you (you’ve done the informant consensus process etc). After some interviews, you decide that it’s a good time to collect some plants. When you suggest a time to go collecting, he says “That’s not a good time for me. I have to take my buffalo out at that time.” When you suggest another time he says, “I won’t be able to go. I need to go to the district office.” You take the hint that he doesn’t want to go. What do you think went wrong? Or what do you think that you should do next?
   1. The best herbarium at Khon Kaen University is in the Department of Biological Sciences. Your hosting professor for the past 4 years is in the Department of Pharmaceutical Botany. They are feuding departments. Your professor has told you to deposit your second set of voucher specimens in the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Botany herbarium, which you have seen is a closet with stacks of forgotten specimens from years ago. You know that to deposit specimens at the Faculty of Biological Sciences would be an insult to your professor. But those specimens took you 2 years to collect and they are a major component of your research. What should you do?