Formas de vida en la etnobotánica aymara

Abstract

In this article we try to build an explanatory scheme of ethnobotanical life forms used by the Aymara inhabitants of Tacna, Tarata and Palca (Southern Peru), starting from a classificatory scheme of life forms that is based on the universal classification of ethnobotanical life forms proposed by Brown (1977). Ten Aymara speakers were interviewed in order to verify the validity of the life forms from the literature. According to the results, three categories were identified under the scheme of the universal folk botanical life forms: Trees and some shrubs (qoqa), lesser perennial or annual plants (qora), and grass and related plants (pastu or jach’u). The category ‘vine’ was not found in the Aymara vocabulary/language. However, the Aymara also know other life forms not considered universals, as follows: Asteraceae from the High Andes (tola), columnar cacti (kuri), freshwater algae (laqhu), aquatic plants (llach’u), ferns (raki-raki), cushion plants (llareta), and shrubs of the Asteraceae Family (chilca and chare). The influence of the utilitarian factor and thematic relations in the classification of life forms by Aymara speakers is discussed in this work. A classification system of ethnobotanical life forms generated by Aymara speakers from Tacna is recognized in the speech used in agriculture, pastoralism and natural products commerce.