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Traditional knowledge, uses, and perceptions of mushrooms among the Wixaritari and mestizos of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between humans and nature is defined by culture. Accordingly, the use, conceptions, and perceptions of resources differ among cultural groups, even among those inhabiting the same region or those who come into contact with the same biota. In particular, mushrooms evoke a wide range of sentiments. During ethnobiological tours in Mexico, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 37 individuals of each community, from ten Wixarika and mestizo communities, living in the same locality and sharing similar resources, in the municipality of Villa Guerrero in northern Jalisco, Mexico. Furthermore, informal interviews with four Wixarika and five mestizo key informants were conducted. The topics treated were regarding the traditional nomenclature and classification, uses, and knowledge of mushrooms and related practices. Wixarika names of 37 mushroom species with edible, medicinal, and recreational uses were recorded. In addition, the Wixaritari were found to associate toxic mushrooms with the divine, as evidenced by one case of the use of mushrooms as a hierophanic agent. Each culture's knowledge of the phenology and ecology of mushrooms was recorded in addition to data highlighting the cultural exchange between the Wixaritari and mestizos. However, a loss in the knowledge and practices concerning mushrooms was observed as a result of social changes. Even so, both cultures prefer mushrooms to other foods, including meat, especially Volvariella bombycina and Pleurotus djamor.

SUBMITTER: Haro-Luna MX

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7325656 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Traditional knowledge, uses, and perceptions of mushrooms among the Wixaritari and mestizos of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico.

Haro-Luna Mara Ximena MX Ruan-Soto Felipe F Guzmán-Dávalos Laura L

IMA fungus 20190916

The relationship between humans and nature is defined by culture. Accordingly, the use, conceptions, and perceptions of resources differ among cultural groups, even among those inhabiting the same region or those who come into contact with the same biota. In particular, mushrooms evoke a wide range of sentiments. During ethnobiological tours in Mexico, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 37 individuals of each community, from ten Wixarika and mestizo communities, living in the same ...[more]

PMID: 32647620

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Effective health care requires services that are responsive to local needs and contexts. Achieving this in indigenous settings implies communication between traditional and conventional medicine perspectives. Adequate interaction is especially relevant for maternal health because cultural practices have a notable role during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Our work with indigenous communities in the Mexican state of Guerrero used fuzzy cognitive mapping to identify actionable factors for maternal health from the perspective of traditional midwives. METHODS:We worked with twenty-nine indigenous women and men whose communities recognized them as traditional midwives. A group session for each ethnicity explored risks and protective factors for maternal health among the Me'phaa and Nancue ñomndaa midwives. Participants mapped factors associated with maternal health and weighted the influence of each factor on others. Transitive closure summarized the overall influence of each node with all other factors in the map. Using categories set in discussions with the midwives, the authors condensed the relationships with thematic analysis. The composite map combined categories in the Me'phaa and the Nancue ñomndaa maps. RESULTS:Traditional midwives in this setting attend to pregnant women's physical, mental, and spiritual conditions and the corresponding conditions of their offspring and family. The maps described a complex web of cultural interpretations of disease - "frío" (cold or coldness of the womb), "espanto" (fright), and "coraje" (anger) - abandonment of traditional practices of self-care, women's mental health, and gender violence as influential risk factors. Protective factors included increased male involvement in maternal health (having a caring, working, and loving husband), receiving support from traditional healers, following protective rituals, and better nutrition. CONCLUSIONS:The maps offer a visual language to present and to discuss indigenous knowledge and to incorporate participant voices into research and decision making. Factors with higher perceived influence in the eyes of the indigenous groups could be a starting point for additional research. Contrasting these maps with other stakeholder views can inform theories of change and support co-design of culturally appropriate interventions.

Project description:BackgroundThe Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua in Northern Mexico is inhabited by indigenous Raramuris, mestizos, and other ethnic groups. The territory consists of canyons and ravines with pine, oak and pine-oak forests in the higher plateaus. A great diversity of potentially edible mushrooms is found in forests of the Municipalities of Bocoyna and Urique. Their residents are the only consumers of wild mushrooms in the Northern Mexico; they have a long tradition of collecting and eating these during the "rainy season." However, despite the wide diversity of edible mushrooms that grow in these areas, residents have a selective preference. This paper aims to record evidence of the knowledge and use of wild potentially edible mushroom species by inhabitants of towns in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua, Mexico.MethodUsing a semi-structured technique, we surveyed 197 habitants from seven locations in Urique, Bocoyna, and the Cusarare area from 2010 to 2012. Known fungi, local nomenclature, species consumed, preparation methods, appreciation of taste, forms of preservation, criteria for differentiating toxic and edible fungi, other uses, economic aspects, and traditional teaching were recorded. To identify the recognized species, photographic stimuli of 22 local edible species and two toxic species were used.ResultsThe respondents reported preference for five species: Amanita rubescens, Agaricus campestris, Ustilago maydis, Hypomyces lactifluorum, and the Amanita caesarea complex. No apparent differences were found between ethnic groups in terms of preference, although mestizos used other species in Bocoyna (Boletus edulis and B. pinophilus). Some different uses of fungi are recognized by respondents, i.e. home decorations, medicine, as food in breeding rams, etc.ConclusionThe studied population shows a great appreciation towards five species, mainly the A. caesarea complex, and an apparent lack of knowledge of nearly 20 species which are used as food in other areas of Mexico. There are no apparent differences among Sierra inhabitants in terms of gender, occupation, or language regarding the recognition and consumption of species. The rejection of certain species is due mainly to fear of poisoning and the traditional selective teaching of families in the mountain communities of the Sierra Tarahumara.

Dataset Information

Traditional knowledge, uses, and perceptions of mushrooms among the Wixaritari and mestizos of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico.

Publications

Traditional knowledge, uses, and perceptions of mushrooms among the Wixaritari and mestizos of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico.

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