Renata Sõukand
Biographic Data
| ID | 77066 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Renata Sõukand |
| GIVEN NAMES | Renata |
| FAMILY NAME | Sõukand |
| SIGNATURE | SÕUKAND R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ca' Foscari University of Venice |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0413-8723 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 70 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 193 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 70 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Autumn edible mushrooms’ euphoria in Dzūkija, SE Lithuania
Dzūkija is the most heavily forested region of Lithuania, and foragers and ethnographers alike describe it as the country’s epicentre of mushroom enthusiasm. We interviewed 34 foragers there in October 2025 (20 women, 14 men; mean age 56 years) to ask why gathering fungi in this region is lived as a collective euphoria rather than as an ordinary subsistence chore, and how that intensity connects to cross-border trade. On the region’s sandy, pine-…
From the margins to the core
Ethnobiology was not only created as a field to understand the relationship between humans and their environments; it emerged from direct engagement with rural and Indigenous communities. Yet the great paradox is that, despite its field-based origins, the discipline continues to be reproduced within urban academic spaces that often exclude those who are assumed to be at the very heart of knowledge production. In this editorial, we do not simply p…
When minority language persistence is not enough
Local ecological knowledge is an essential element of the Alpine biocultural diversity and is often linked to minority languages. However, its continuity does not necessarily correspond to the persistence of these languages. This study investigates how knowledge of wild plants (and mushrooms) is transmitted and transformed among three minority-language communities in the Italian Alps: Cimbrian, Mòcheno, and Ladin speakers. Ethnobotanical data wer…
Local farmers, custodians of wild food plant knowledge and uses in the touristified Venice Lagoon
The findings of this study reveal that LGK among farmers, thus people who live in close connection with the soil and vegetation of the Venice lagoon, is still vivid and it is increasingly economically valued. The study also shows a sharp distinction in the LGK on WFPs between farmers and fishers, revealing a strong knowledge specialization tied to their primary occupation, essential in a context of rural depopulation and touristification, for ide…
Searching for a ghost?! The vain ethnobotany of foraging in three coastal Mediterranean areas
This paper explores the erosion of foraging-related ethnobotanical knowledge in three coastal Mediterranean areas: Gozo Island (Malta), Kasos Island (Greece), and the Castagniccia region of Corsica Island (France). Based on recent ethnobotanical fieldwork between the summer of 2023 and the spring of 2025 in the three study areas, we document the few remaining wild vegetable uses in each region and contextualise the absence of robust LEK linked to…
I know a lot about medicinal plants. I read, I watch, and I search
The study suggests that medicinal plant knowledge has evolved here through hybridisation, a process whose consequences are context-dependent, offering opportunities for revitalisation but also a risk of displacement. Dialogic exchanges across families, communities, languages, and media expand people's plant repertoire and strengthen community adaptive capacity. Yet when these exchanges lead to excessive standardisation, they risk eroding the dive…
Commons are cared for
Local knowledge is an essential dimension of humanity's relationship with the environment. Investigating the interdependence between humans and wild birds holds value in fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with avian populations. Gathering bird eggs is a significant practice for Kihnu islanders in Estonia. There are very few studies of this age‐old, complex knowledge that assess the topic from the perspective of the local community. This…
‘A Starving Man Does Not Sniff His Food’
The Holodomor (1932–1933) was a politically driven, genocidal famine that killed millions through starvation and disease, as well as disrupting Ukrainian society and agriculture. Through the analysis of various archival sources, particularly survivor narratives, we obtained information about 72 plants used as famine foods, foods not customarily eaten and plants eaten in unusual quantities or ways during the Holodomor. A total of at least 114 part…
Impacts of invasive algae from the perspective of fishers in the Lagoon of Venice, Northern Italy
Invasive alien species are generally considered a cause of biodiversity decline globally, and studying their evolution could provide valuable insights about their invasion mechanism and impacts to new habitats. The Lagoon of Venice (LV) is a significant gateway for invasive algae introduction into the Adriatic Sea. This work aims to address the pressing need to enhance research on the perceptions of local resource users, especially fishers, on in…
Beekeepers as guardians of apitherapeutic knowledge in Estonia, SW Ukraine, and NE Italy
Background Bees have been important to people in Europe in many ways. Honey was the only sweetener available for a long time. The introduction of frame hives allowed for the collection of various hive products and better production of honey and wax. Only a few ethnomedicinal studies on apitherapy have been published in Europe, highlighting hive products that are collected, sold, or used by beekeepers. The aim of this article is to provide a gener…
Not "just necessity"? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies' markets in Moldova
Informal food markets, particularly those managed by (elderly) women in post-communist Eastern Europe, represent a biocultural phenomenon of profound significance since globalisation and increasingly strict legal frameworks often threaten these reservoirs of biocultural food heritage. In the fall of 2022 and 2023, a preliminary field study was conducted by visiting the informal markets of six Moldovan centres: Chișinău, Orhei, Bălți, Călărași, Co…
Dark local knowledge
This essay brings forward the idea that there is more than meets the eye in local knowledge systems than what science can show us now. To comprehend this, we need to make a conceptual jump and look for the “dark matter” (the notion borrowed from astronomy that refers to a hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or electromagnetic fields) that can potentially sustain local knowledge. Considering that it is a complex of knowle…
Knowledge in motion
Background Understanding how Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) evolves over time is crucial for fostering social and environmental responsibility. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of plant knowledge circulation, providing insights into the temporal dynamics of LEK in the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian border region. It explores the key patterns and driving forces behind changes in the use of wild plants for food. Methods Field research …
Fishery and ecology-related knowledge about plants among fishing communities along Laguna Lake, Philippines
These results highlight that the knowledge of fishers regarding the ecosystem in which they conduct their fishing activities provides baseline information about the positive and negative relationships between plants and fishing activities in the region, which is vital for further understanding its biodiversity and ecosystem interactions. It is crucial to consider fisher knowledge and involve them as equal partners in conservation efforts of LB
Isolated Mediterranean foraging
Searching for Germane Questions in the Ethnobiology of Food Scouting
In the past two decades, ethnobiologists have increasingly paid attention to the scouting and documentation of endangered corpora of local food elements and associated traditional knowledge. In this endeavor, food scouting encompasses the methodological tools used for mapping, inventorying, and documenting food and food-related resources. The growing body of research in this field is shedding light on the potentialities of these practices in obta…
Ethnobotanical contributions to global fishing communities
Keeping their own and integrating the other
Background In multicultural societies, traditional knowledge among minorities faces several challenges. Minority groups often face difficult situations living in specific peripheral geographies and striving to retain their biocultural heritage, including medicinal plant knowledge and practices. Folk medicinal plant knowledge is a dynamic eco-cultural complex influenced by various environmental, socio-cultural, and political factors. Examining med…
Traditional foraging for ecological transition? Wild food ethnobotany among three ethnic groups in the highlands of the eastern Hindukush, North Pakistan
Background The Patrak Valley is home to communities, which have been inextricably linked with nature for generations, and local plant knowledge (LPK) represents an important part of their local cultural diversity. In general, globalization has come at the expense of local plant knowledge among several mountain societies, and therefore the current investigation has been undertaken to record the (possibly) last remaining wild food plant/mushroom fo…
Hutsuls' perceptions of forests and uses of forest resource in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina
Socio-economic and political contexts play a major role in a community's perception of the environment, determining natural resource use. We examined perceptions of forest and forest resource use among two Hutsul communities in Bukovina sharing a similar cultural background but living in a region divided by the national border created between Romania and Ukraine in the 1940s. Twenty-nine open-ended and 61 semi-structured interviews were conducted…
Changements dans l’usage des plantes lors des rituels et des jours de fête sur l’île de Kihnu
Le nombre d’études consacrées à l’utilisation rituelle des plantes a augmenté ces dernières décennies. En 2021 nous avons fait un terrain ethno-biologique sur l’île estonienne de Kihnu. Comme l’étude des rituels en Europe orientale, c’est-à-dire dans des pays où dans la deuxième moitié du xxe siècle a dominé le socialisme, était de ce fait limitée, nous avons comparé nos données surtout à celles qui avaient été collectées dans les années 1930. Po…
One more way to support Ukraine
Background: Ukraine holds a rich reservoir of cultural and biological diversity due to its complex history and variegated landscapes. However, the current aggression poses threats to it, attacking its identity expressed through local ecological practices. Therefore, in this photo essay, we aim to celebrate the great reservoir of biocultural diversity that we observed during several field investigations in different areas of Ukraine. Methods: We s…
The nexus between traditional foraging and its sustainability
Historical Review of Ethnopharmacology in Karelia (1850s–2020s)
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The traditional medicine of various peoples populating Russia is strongly underrepresented in the international anthropological literature. In addition, it has a multicomponent structure, a long history of relations with official medicine, and is still a living system with many people using folk remedies and visiting ritual specialists. AIM OF THE STUDY: The article is a review of folk medicine in Karelia (north-we…
Why the ongoing occupation of Ukraine matters to ethnobiology
Ethnobiology and ethnomedicine investigate the continuously changing complex and inextricable relations among culture, nature, and health. Since the emergence of modern ethnobiology a few decades ago, its essence and mission have been the study of biocultural diversities and the centers of its inquiries have been and are local communities and their co-evolutionary interrelationships between natural environments and social systems. At the core of …
Current and Remembered Past Uses of Wild Food Plants in Saaremaa, Estonia
Knowledge transmission patterns at the border
Background Cross-border research is a novel and important tool for detecting variability of ecological knowledge. This is especially evident in regions recently divided and annexed to different political regimes. Therefore, we conducted a study among Hutsuls, a cultural and linguistic minority group living in Northern and Southern Bukovina (Ukraine and Romania, respectively). Indeed, in the 1940s, a border was created: Northern Bukovina was annex…
Taming the pandemic? The importance of homemade plant-based foods and beverages as community responses to Covid-19
Household responses to COVID-19 in different corners of the world represent the primary health care that communities have relied on for preventing and mitigating symptoms. During a very complex and confusing time, in which public health services in multiple countries have been completely overwhelmed, and in some cases even collapsed, these first-line household responses have been quintessential for building physical, mental, and social resilience…
Multi-functionality of the few
BACKGROUND: This study examined the use of wild plants in the food, medicinal and veterinary areas within a small territory limited to one village council in the Liubań district of Belarus. The objectives of the research were to document the current and past uses of wild plants in this region for food and human/animal medication; to analyse the food, medicinal and veterinary areas in the context of wild plants; and to qualitatively compare the re…
Are Borders More Important than Geographical Distance? The Wild Food Ethnobotany of the Boykos and its Overlap with that of the Bukovinian Hutsuls in Western Ukraine
Few ethnobiological studies have thus far addressed the effect of diverse social, economic, and political variables that may influence the dynamics of folk plant knowledge. The aim of this work was to better understand the legacy of plant use in the post-Soviet context—particularly in Western Ukraine—by documenting the use of wild plants for food among Boykos living in Transcarpathia and comparing the findings with the results of a previous study…
Perceived reasons for changes in the use of wild food plants in Saaremaa, Estonia
Just beautiful green herbs
BackgroundThe use of plants in rituals is a little explored corner of biocultural diversity which has developed through time within a complex socio-ecological system. Indeed, rituals are complex interactions between humans and biodiversity shaped by history, culture, and ethnic belonging. Yet, in Western Ukraine, such rituals were forbidden for over 50 years (1939-1991). The current revival of rituals by rural inhabitants is an untapped reservoir…
Where tulips and crocuses are popular food snacks
Background Iraqi Kurdistan is a special hotspot for bio-cultural diversity and for investigating patterns of traditional wild food plant foraging, considering that this area was the home of the first Neolithic communities and has been, over millennia, a crossroad of different civilizations and cultures. The aim of this ethnobotanical field study was to cross-culturally compare the wild food plants traditionally gathered by Kurdish Muslims and tho…
Keeping or changing? Two different cultural adaptation strategies in the domestic use of home country food plant and herbal ingredients among Albanian and Moroccan migrants in Northwestern Italy
BACKGROUND: Ethnobotanical field studies concerning migrant groups are crucial for understanding temporal changes of folk plant knowledge as well as for analyzing adaptation processes. Italy still lacks in-depth studies on migrant food habits that also evaluate the ingredients which newcomers use in their domestic culinary and herbal practices. METHODS: Semi-structured and open in-depth interviews were conducted with 104 first- and second-generat…
Traditional foraging for ecological transition? Wild food ethnobotany among three ethnic groups in the highlands of the eastern Hindukush, North Pakistan
Background The Patrak Valley is home to communities, which have been inextricably linked with nature for generations, and local plant knowledge (LPK) represents an important part of their local cultural diversity. In general, globalization has come at the expense of local plant knowledge among several mountain societies, and therefore the current investigation has been undertaken to record the (possibly) last remaining wild food plant/mushroom fo…
Forest as Stronghold of Local Ecological Practice
Traditional food uses of wild plants among the Gorani of South Kosovo
A food ethnobotanical field study was conducted among the Gorani of South Kosovo, a small ethnic minority group that speaks a South-Slavic language and lives in the south of the country. We conducted forty-one semi-structured interviews in ten villages of the Kosovar Gora mountainous area and found that seventy-nine wild botanical and mycological taxa represent the complex mosaic of the food cultural heritage in this population. A large portion o…
The use of teetaimed in Estonia, 1880s–1990s
This research contributes to a better understanding of the criteria used for the selection of plants for making beverages. Worldwide, not only the leaves of Camellia sinensis, but also various other plants are used for making tea. We argue that the selection of plants for making tea (in Estonian teetaimed) depends on specific features possessed by or attributed to the plants. 54 plant taxa and one lichen were identified as being used for making t…
Keeping their own and integrating the other
Background In multicultural societies, traditional knowledge among minorities faces several challenges. Minority groups often face difficult situations living in specific peripheral geographies and striving to retain their biocultural heritage, including medicinal plant knowledge and practices. Folk medicinal plant knowledge is a dynamic eco-cultural complex influenced by various environmental, socio-cultural, and political factors. Examining med…
Dissymmetry at the Border
The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity
The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants Among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus. Divergences in the categorization and use of wild food plants among ethnic and linguistic groups living within the same environment are prototypical for the dual nature of biocultural diversity, which is generally richer on ecological and cultural edges. We interviewed 136 people from seven ethnolinguistic groups …
Scholarly vs. Traditional Knowledge
Dark local knowledge
This essay brings forward the idea that there is more than meets the eye in local knowledge systems than what science can show us now. To comprehend this, we need to make a conceptual jump and look for the “dark matter” (the notion borrowed from astronomy that refers to a hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or electromagnetic fields) that can potentially sustain local knowledge. Considering that it is a complex of knowle…
Socio–Cultural Significance of Yerba Maté among Syrian Residents and Diaspora
Gaining momentum
Use of cultivated plants and non-plant remedies for human and animal home-medication in Liubań district, Belarus
BACKGROUND: To use any domestic remedy, specific knowledge and skills are required. Simple logic dictates that the use of wild plants in the context of limited interaction with nature requires prior identification, while in the case of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants this step can be omitted. This paper aims to document the current and past uses of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants in the study region for human/animal medication; …
Not "just necessity"? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies' markets in Moldova
Informal food markets, particularly those managed by (elderly) women in post-communist Eastern Europe, represent a biocultural phenomenon of profound significance since globalisation and increasingly strict legal frameworks often threaten these reservoirs of biocultural food heritage. In the fall of 2022 and 2023, a preliminary field study was conducted by visiting the informal markets of six Moldovan centres: Chișinău, Orhei, Bălți, Călărași, Co…
Knowledge in motion
Background Understanding how Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) evolves over time is crucial for fostering social and environmental responsibility. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of plant knowledge circulation, providing insights into the temporal dynamics of LEK in the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian border region. It explores the key patterns and driving forces behind changes in the use of wild plants for food. Methods Field research …
Why the ongoing occupation of Ukraine matters to ethnobiology
Ethnobiology and ethnomedicine investigate the continuously changing complex and inextricable relations among culture, nature, and health. Since the emergence of modern ethnobiology a few decades ago, its essence and mission have been the study of biocultural diversities and the centers of its inquiries have been and are local communities and their co-evolutionary interrelationships between natural environments and social systems. At the core of …
Wild fish are a blessing
Several coastal communities rely heavily on wild-caught fish for personal consumption and their livelihoods, thus being sensitive to the rapid global change affecting fish availability. However, in the last century, aquaculture has been increasingly adopted. To understand the uses and changes of wild-caught fish, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with fishers of Laguna Lake, Philippines. Fishermen, with up to 60 years' experience, report…
Pilguheit haiguspõhjuste süstemaatikatele
The article views the different etiological systems presented by various ethno-medicine researchers. In addition to Ilmari Manninen (who included Estonian material), classifications suggested by Mascie-Taylor, Honko, Morley and Ackerknecht are viewed. There is as yet no systematised overview of Estonian folk medicine. A new system of categorization needs to be created for this
Classification of Remedies and Medical Plants of Estonian Ethnopharmacology
This article reflects folk medicine material collected over the last 120 years. There are approximately 30 000 texts on the subject stored in the Estonian Folklore Archives. The research material was compiled to ascertain the rate of use of different forms of remedies (plants, food, natural resources, chemical substances, animal remedies, etc) and their relative use in healing different types of diseases. The results show that the most frequently…
Koera keele otsas rohi, kassi keele otsas tõbi
Pealkirjaks olev vanasna (EV 3352
Plants in Estonian Folk Medicine
In present-day Europe, the knowledge of how to use plants in folk medicine is mostly obtained from written sources, such as books on popular medicine or pharmacopoeias. The situation in contemporary Estonia does not differ much. In addition to these sources, though, the Estonian scholars of the field can find information in a collection of the Estonian Folklore Archives, dating back to the middle and end of the 19th century. As such, this collect…
Kuidas võõras muutub omaks
Teesid
Herbal Landscape
This contribution investigates the idea of herbal landscape, associated with a personal perception of landscape as a source of materia medica. The herbal landscape can be divided into specific smaller units according to several natural and cultural boundaries. This explains why the original knowledge of plants gleaned by one set of inhabitants may be clearly distinguished from that of close neighbors. The natural boundaries are, for example, the …
Sissevaade eestlaste ravimtaimede tundmise mitmekesisusse
The article probes the knowledge of Estonians in terms of medicinal plants, proceeding from the origin of the relevant knowledge. We have differentiated local and global knowledge. The concept of locality is closely related to indigenous plants and the knowledge thereof within the community. It is intrinsic of the local knowledge to combine tworeciprocal criteria: first, the plant name is characteristic of a particular region (village, former par…
Change in medical plant use in Estonian ethnomedicine
Wild food plant use in 21st century Europe
The aim of this review is to present an overview of changes in the contemporary use of wild food plants in Europe, mainly using the examples of our home countries: Poland, Italy, Spain, Estonia and Sweden. We set the scene referring to the nutrition of 19th century peasants, involving many famine and emergency foods. Later we discuss such issues as children's wild snacks, the association between the decline of plant knowledge and the disappearanc…
The use of teetaimed in Estonia, 1880s–1990s
This research contributes to a better understanding of the criteria used for the selection of plants for making beverages. Worldwide, not only the leaves of Camellia sinensis, but also various other plants are used for making tea. We argue that the selection of plants for making tea (in Estonian teetaimed) depends on specific features possessed by or attributed to the plants. 54 plant taxa and one lichen were identified as being used for making t…
Plants used for making recreational tea in Europe
This paper is a review of local plants used in water infusions as aromatic and refreshing hot beverages (recreational tea) consumed in food-related settings in Europe, and not for specific medicinal purposes. The reviewed 29 areas are located across Europe, covering the post-Soviet countries, eastern and Mediterranean Europe. Altogether, 142 taxa belonging to 99 genera and 40 families were reported. The most important families for making herbal t…
Where does the border lie
What are the main criteria of science? Unconventional methods in ethnopharmacology
An ethnobotanical perspective on traditional fermented plant foods and beverages in Eastern Europe
Sibul, kadakas ja küüslauk – toidutaimed ja regionaalne toidukultuur Eestis
kulinaarse smboli -Peipsi-rne sibul, Saaremaa kadakas
A hundred introductions to semiotics, for a million students
In order to estimate the current situation of teaching materials available in the field of semiotics, we are providing a comparative overview and a worldwide bibliography of introductions and textbooks on general semiotics published within last 50 years, i.e. since the beginning of institutionalization of semiotics. In this category, we have found over 130 original books in 22 languages. Together with the translations of more than 20 of these tit…
Perceiving the Biodiversity of Food at Chest-height
The importance of a border
Perceived reasons for changes in the use of wild food plants in Saaremaa, Estonia
Current and Remembered Past Uses of Wild Food Plants in Saaremaa, Estonia
Traditional food uses of wild plants among the Gorani of South Kosovo
A food ethnobotanical field study was conducted among the Gorani of South Kosovo, a small ethnic minority group that speaks a South-Slavic language and lives in the south of the country. We conducted forty-one semi-structured interviews in ten villages of the Kosovar Gora mountainous area and found that seventy-nine wild botanical and mycological taxa represent the complex mosaic of the food cultural heritage in this population. A large portion o…
The bear in Eurasian plant names
Ethnolinguistic studies are important for understanding an ethnic group's ideas on the world, expressed in its language. Comparing corresponding aspects of such knowledge might help clarify problems of origin for certain concepts and words, e.g. whether they form common heritage, have an independent origin, are borrowings, or calques. The current study was conducted on the material in Slavonic, Baltic, Germanic, Romance, Finno-Ugrian, Turkic and …
Multi-functionality of the few
BACKGROUND: This study examined the use of wild plants in the food, medicinal and veterinary areas within a small territory limited to one village council in the Liubań district of Belarus. The objectives of the research were to document the current and past uses of wild plants in this region for food and human/animal medication; to analyse the food, medicinal and veterinary areas in the context of wild plants; and to qualitatively compare the re…
Use of cultivated plants and non-plant remedies for human and animal home-medication in Liubań district, Belarus
BACKGROUND: To use any domestic remedy, specific knowledge and skills are required. Simple logic dictates that the use of wild plants in the context of limited interaction with nature requires prior identification, while in the case of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants this step can be omitted. This paper aims to document the current and past uses of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants in the study region for human/animal medication; …
Are Borders More Important than Geographical Distance? The Wild Food Ethnobotany of the Boykos and its Overlap with that of the Bukovinian Hutsuls in Western Ukraine
Few ethnobiological studies have thus far addressed the effect of diverse social, economic, and political variables that may influence the dynamics of folk plant knowledge. The aim of this work was to better understand the legacy of plant use in the post-Soviet context—particularly in Western Ukraine—by documenting the use of wild plants for food among Boykos living in Transcarpathia and comparing the findings with the results of a previous study…
Geography (49 works) · Biology (42 works) · Ecology (37 works) · Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies (34 works) · Ethnobotany (32 works) · Sociology (26 works) · Medicinal plants (25 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Traditional knowledge (18 works) · Biodiversity (17 works)