Ethnicity, Income, and Education

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the role of ethnicity, income, and education in the knowledge and use of plant resources. Ethnicity often influences not only knowledge itself but how the plant resources are perceived. Populations of different ethnic origins situated in the same region may have different bodies of knowledge. With longer residence time, people have had more time to interact with local resources and with other residents to expand knowledge. Income is usually one of the factors with the most explanatory power for the knowledge and use of plant resources, and it operates mainly in the context of resources that can be replaced by alternative assets. Finally, education has been inversely related to the knowledge and use of plant resources. However, this relationship remains unclear in ethnobiological literature, as other variables may underlie this relationship (such as income and occupation).