UC Riverside

The Yoreme people of northwestern Mexico have a vibrant body of traditional knowledge and practices (TKP) related to natural landscapes amidst drastic technological changes in the region. This apparent contrast presents an exemplar model system to conduct ethnobotanical studies on traditional knowledge and practice dynamics. Using a range of methods from in person surveys, vegetation surveys, geographic data analysis, and biochemical assays, I sought to gain insight as to how TKP change and adapt. This research lead to four main findings within the concept that I call traditional knowledge and practice remodeling. (1) Traditional herbalists adapt to online shopping trends and are moving their storefronts online. (2) Local pitaya-product producers create value-added fruit products to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive market. (3) Ancestral use and phylogenetic studies can lead to hypotheses and assays on the mode and mechanism of action for local medicinal plants such as Ibervillea sonorae. Mechanistic studies show how I. sonorae inhibits α-glucosidase and stimulates insulin secretion in vitro. Mechanistic studies can help strengthen cultural moral, help physicians plan treatment programs for patients who consume herbal medicine, and provide literature support for cultural initiatives and funding such as medicinal plant gardens. (4) While ethnobotanists often study TKP dynamics and even hold community events to strengthen TKP, little follow-up data is collected. Museum evaluation techniques should be implemented to strengthen the data pool of TKP conservation to refine the current and general ideas that time on the land with elders is the best way to transmit TKP. In all, my research has shown that TKP remodeling is driven by the needs and opportunities of community members. Given the large pool of talent in the Yoreme villages I visited and the innovative ideas of herbalists and artisan product producers, I propose that networking tools from social entrepreneurship incubators would help bolster new ideas and move them from an idea of a few individuals into a broad scale reality. This may also give more voice to those who want to preserve land and keep traditional practices active and vibrant.