Abstract
Human migration implies adaptations to new environments, such as ways to benefit from the available biodiversity. This study focused on the use of animal-derived remedies, and we investigated the effects of migration on the traditional medical system of the indigenous Truká people. This ethnic group lives in Northeast Brazil and is currently distributed in four distinct villages. In these villages, the zootherapeutic knowledge of 54 indigenous people was determined through semi-structured questionnaires given from September 2013 to January 2014. The interviewees indicated 137 zootherapeutic uses involving 21 animal species. The variety of species and their uses have a higher similarity between villages that are closer to each other, which can be a reflection of geographic and environmental factors. However, even close villages showed a low similarity in the zootherapeutic uses recorded, which reflects a strong idiosyncrasy regarding the knowledge of each village. Hence, each village may be influenced by the physical environment and contact with other cultures, which may maintain or reduce the contact of younger villages with the original village.
Highlights
One of the reasons that causes humans to leave their place of origin is the search for available natural resources for their subsistence [1,2], which has resulted in the migration of human communities throughout history, to other rural areas and to cities [3,4]
The current distribution of indigenous communities was influenced by slavery and genocide, as well as by the invasion of their territories, which resulted in the migration of various ethnic groups displaced from their place of origin [30]. By virtue of this scenario, the present study investigated the influence of the migratory process on the use of animals used traditional medicine by indigenous people inhabiting of the Northeast region of Brazil
Certain variations occurred in the repertoire of medicinal species and their respective uses between the Truká migrants of the villages compared
Summary
One of the reasons that causes humans to leave their place of origin is the search for available natural resources for their subsistence [1,2], which has resulted in the migration of human communities throughout history, to other rural areas and to cities [3,4]. Information about migratory movements in certain countries is scarce, even when considering traditional populations that have undergone small-scale migratory processes. In this scenario, the present research investigated the effects of regional migration on the richness and diversity of the animals used traditional folk medicine in the northeast region of Brazil
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