Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society

Victoria Reyes-García; James Broesch; Laura Calvet-Mir; Nuria Fuentes-Peláez; Thomas W. McDade; Sorush Parsa; Susan Tanner; Tomás Huanca; William R. Leonard; Maria R. Martínez-Rodríguez

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.02.001

Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society

Victoria Reyes-García^*, James Broesch, Laura Calvet-Mir, Nuria Fuentes-Peláez, Thomas W. McDade, Sorush Parsa, Susan Tanner, Tomás Huanca, William R. Leonard, Maria R. Martínez-Rodríguez

^*Corresponding author for this work

Anthropology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

145 Scopus citations

Abstract

The modeling of cultural transmission is of great importance for understanding the maintenance, erosion, and spread of cultural traits and innovations. Researchers have hypothesized that, unlike biological transmission, cultural transmission occurs through at least three different, non-mutually exclusive paths: (1) from parents (vertical); (2) from age peers (horizontal); and (3) from older generations (oblique). We used data from 270 adults in a society in the Bolivian Amazon to estimate the association between a person's knowledge and skills and the knowledge and skills of the (1) same-sex parent, (2) age peers (or individuals born in the same village as the subject within ±4 years of the subject's year of birth), and (3) parental cohort (excluding parents). We found a statistically significant association between personal and parental and old cohort knowledge. The magnitude of the association is larger for old cohort knowledge than for parental knowledge, suggesting that, for the studied population, the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills is mostly oblique.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	274-285
Number of pages	12
Journal	Evolution and Human Behavior
Volume	30
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.02.001
State	Published - Jul 2009

Funding

A preliminary version of this article was presented at the I Jornada de Antropología y Ecología (Barcelona, Spain; September 27, 2007). This research was funded by grants from the Cultural Anthropology and Physical Anthropology Programs of the National Science Foundation (BCS-0134225, BCS-0200767, and BCS-0322380).

Keywords

Bolivia
Ethnobotanical knowledge
Oblique transmission
Transmission of knowledge
Tsimane'

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.02.001

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Reyes-García, V., Broesch, J., Calvet-Mir, L., Fuentes-Peláez, N., McDade, T. W., Parsa, S., Tanner, S., Huanca, T., Leonard, W. R., & Martínez-Rodríguez, M. R. (2009). Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(4), 274-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.02.001

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title = "Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society",

abstract = "The modeling of cultural transmission is of great importance for understanding the maintenance, erosion, and spread of cultural traits and innovations. Researchers have hypothesized that, unlike biological transmission, cultural transmission occurs through at least three different, non-mutually exclusive paths: (1) from parents (vertical); (2) from age peers (horizontal); and (3) from older generations (oblique). We used data from 270 adults in a society in the Bolivian Amazon to estimate the association between a person's knowledge and skills and the knowledge and skills of the (1) same-sex parent, (2) age peers (or individuals born in the same village as the subject within ±4 years of the subject's year of birth), and (3) parental cohort (excluding parents). We found a statistically significant association between personal and parental and old cohort knowledge. The magnitude of the association is larger for old cohort knowledge than for parental knowledge, suggesting that, for the studied population, the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills is mostly oblique.",

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author = "Victoria Reyes-Garc{\'i}a and James Broesch and Laura Calvet-Mir and Nuria Fuentes-Pel{\'a}ez and McDade, {Thomas W.} and Sorush Parsa and Susan Tanner and Tom{\'a}s Huanca and Leonard, {William R.} and Mart{\'i}nez-Rodr{\'i}guez, {Maria R.}",

note = "Funding Information: A preliminary version of this article was presented at the I Jornada de Antropolog{\'i}a y Ecolog{\'i}a (Barcelona, Spain; September 27, 2007). This research was funded by grants from the Cultural Anthropology and Physical Anthropology Programs of the National Science Foundation (BCS-0134225, BCS-0200767, and BCS-0322380). ",

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Reyes-García, V, Broesch, J, Calvet-Mir, L, Fuentes-Peláez, N, McDade, TW, Parsa, S, Tanner, S, Huanca, T, Leonard, WR & Martínez-Rodríguez, MR 2009, 'Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society', Evolution and Human Behavior, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 274-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.02.001

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AU - Reyes-García, Victoria

AU - Broesch, James

AU - Calvet-Mir, Laura

AU - Fuentes-Peláez, Nuria

AU - McDade, Thomas W.

AU - Parsa, Sorush

AU - Tanner, Susan

AU - Huanca, Tomás

AU - Leonard, William R.

AU - Martínez-Rodríguez, Maria R.

N1 - Funding Information: A preliminary version of this article was presented at the I Jornada de Antropología y Ecología (Barcelona, Spain; September 27, 2007). This research was funded by grants from the Cultural Anthropology and Physical Anthropology Programs of the National Science Foundation (BCS-0134225, BCS-0200767, and BCS-0322380).

PY - 2009/7

Y1 - 2009/7

N2 - The modeling of cultural transmission is of great importance for understanding the maintenance, erosion, and spread of cultural traits and innovations. Researchers have hypothesized that, unlike biological transmission, cultural transmission occurs through at least three different, non-mutually exclusive paths: (1) from parents (vertical); (2) from age peers (horizontal); and (3) from older generations (oblique). We used data from 270 adults in a society in the Bolivian Amazon to estimate the association between a person's knowledge and skills and the knowledge and skills of the (1) same-sex parent, (2) age peers (or individuals born in the same village as the subject within ±4 years of the subject's year of birth), and (3) parental cohort (excluding parents). We found a statistically significant association between personal and parental and old cohort knowledge. The magnitude of the association is larger for old cohort knowledge than for parental knowledge, suggesting that, for the studied population, the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills is mostly oblique.

AB - The modeling of cultural transmission is of great importance for understanding the maintenance, erosion, and spread of cultural traits and innovations. Researchers have hypothesized that, unlike biological transmission, cultural transmission occurs through at least three different, non-mutually exclusive paths: (1) from parents (vertical); (2) from age peers (horizontal); and (3) from older generations (oblique). We used data from 270 adults in a society in the Bolivian Amazon to estimate the association between a person's knowledge and skills and the knowledge and skills of the (1) same-sex parent, (2) age peers (or individuals born in the same village as the subject within ±4 years of the subject's year of birth), and (3) parental cohort (excluding parents). We found a statistically significant association between personal and parental and old cohort knowledge. The magnitude of the association is larger for old cohort knowledge than for parental knowledge, suggesting that, for the studied population, the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills is mostly oblique.

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ER -

Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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