Robert A. Voeks
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226547718
- eISBN:
- 9780226547855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226547855.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more ...
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In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more with the general public than the notion that these threatened landscapes represented storehouses of drug plants for the battle against our most pernicious diseases. The resultant “jungle medicine narrative” developed around a series of assumptions regarding nature and culture in the tropical realm, some grounded in scientific theory, others the products of ancient prejudices and preconceptions. This book explores the origin and evolution of the various elements in this narrative, including the deployment of the pristine nature of tropical forested landscapes, and the romanticized forest-dweller archetype. Medicinal plants, the centerpiece of the narrative, are shown to be mostly weeds, crop plants, and other features of anthropogenic nature. The under-reported role of women as custodians of medicinal plant knowledge is investigated, as is the degree to which immigrants to the tropics have retained and developed healing pharmacopeias. The book considers the crucial question of whether local knowledge of healing plants is disappearing due to globalization before it can benefit society. Finally, the origins and impacts of environmental storytelling are investigated, in particular how the jungle medicine narrative was employed to address a pressing environmental problem—the destruction of the world’s tropical forests—and what was its ultimate outcome.Less
In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more with the general public than the notion that these threatened landscapes represented storehouses of drug plants for the battle against our most pernicious diseases. The resultant “jungle medicine narrative” developed around a series of assumptions regarding nature and culture in the tropical realm, some grounded in scientific theory, others the products of ancient prejudices and preconceptions. This book explores the origin and evolution of the various elements in this narrative, including the deployment of the pristine nature of tropical forested landscapes, and the romanticized forest-dweller archetype. Medicinal plants, the centerpiece of the narrative, are shown to be mostly weeds, crop plants, and other features of anthropogenic nature. The under-reported role of women as custodians of medicinal plant knowledge is investigated, as is the degree to which immigrants to the tropics have retained and developed healing pharmacopeias. The book considers the crucial question of whether local knowledge of healing plants is disappearing due to globalization before it can benefit society. Finally, the origins and impacts of environmental storytelling are investigated, in particular how the jungle medicine narrative was employed to address a pressing environmental problem—the destruction of the world’s tropical forests—and what was its ultimate outcome.