Intergenerational transmission of traditional ecological knowledge about medicinal plants in a riverine community of the Brazilian Amazon

Local populations may gradually lose the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), which mainly affects younger generations. Knowing the variables involved in TEK transmission supports strategies to maintain the local medical systems. Based on this, this article investigates: How does the intergenerational transmission of TEK about medicinal plants occur for a traditional riverine community in the Brazilian Amazon? From an intentional non-probabilistic sampling, 43 local residents in the Vila Franca community (Tapajós–Arapiuns Extractive Reserve, Brazilian Amazon) were interviewed, in order to assess the modes of cultural transmission and the transmitters of knowledge. The knowledge about medicinal plants in the community is equally influenced by vertical, horizontal and oblique transmissions. No significant differences were observed among age categories, as well as between men and women. The categories ‘mothers’ and ‘women who work with natural remedies’ are the main transmitters of knowledge, highlighting the influence of familial and extrafamilial relationships in this process. Knowledge about medicinal plants in Vila Franca is strongly influenced by familial and extrafamilial relationships, as through the natural remedies project

Amazon rainforest · Biology · Geography · Traditional knowledge · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Engineering · Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies · Ecology