Reference no: EM133454882 , Length: Words Count:1000

Assignment:

For this activity, you will conduct semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews of family members or friends/acquaintances from different cultural backgrounds, in order to learn something about their interactions with plants. You should refer back to the course content guide, Introduction to the Field of Ethnobotany, for Ethnobotanical Methods 1 to review the information on ethnobotanical interviewing.

You may choose between finding out more about family knowledge of plants (and sharing that knowledge with other family members), or learning more about how people from a culture different from your own interact with plants. You could record the conversations for later transcription (preferable method), or take detailed notes during the interview. The goal of the activity is to find out which plants are important to the interviewees, what those plants are used for, how the plants are processed and prepared, the cultural significance of specific plants, etc. You should interview at least two people.

The first step is to draw up a general list of useful plants by asking the interviewee what plants have traditionally been used in his or her family, and what they have been used for (foods, medicine, skin or hair care, holiday traditions, decoration, crafts, other uses).

In the final part of the interview, narrow the list down to the most interesting/useful plants by asking more specific questions. Here's a list of suggested questions. You are encouraged to develop additional questions of your own:

1. What is your favorite plant and why?
2. Which plant do you think is most nutritious and why do you think that?
3. Which plant do you think is the most effective medicinally and why do you think that?
4. Which plant has been most important as part of your family traditions? What traditions is it used for?
5. Who taught you how to use the plant?
6. Does your plant have a story or any mythology associated with it?
7. Which part of the world does your plant come from?

As your interviewee responds, other questions should emerge and you can explore those in more detail.

Your written assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application.

For the written assignment organize your interview information into a paper (approximately 1,000 words).

The paper should include:

• Introduction - A brief introduction (each interviewee's name, residence, birthplace, age, sex, ethnicity or nationality, etc.).
• Methods - a description of the methods you used to obtain the information (description of the questions, how the interview was arranged, date and length of interview, who was present).
• Results - Describe your results (what you learned from the interviews about the interviewees interactions with plants). Research the Latin names of the plants mentioned and include those in this section of the report.
• Conclusion - Write the final paragraph discussing your results, which would be a reflection on what you learned from the activity and how you could apply that learning. Include a list of references for any books or articles you may have consulted.