URL: http://www.amazonteam.org/index.php/213/Traditional_Knowledge_Preservation_and_Perpetuation
Traditional Knowledge Preservation and Perpetuation
Traditional Knowledge Preservation & Perpetuation
ACT was founded on the recognition that the preservation and perpetuation of indigenous medicinal knowledge plays a pivotal role in sustaining indigenous cultural identity and community cohesion. In traditional indigenous societies, this responsibility is largely upheld and embodied by the shaman – a traditional healer and leader. Yet because of acculturating forces and modern influences, indigenous knowledge is disappearing faster than the forest itself, and elder shamans find it increasingly difficult to transmit their ancient knowledge systems to apprentices. In effect, the fate of entire cultures, and therefore the success of community-led forest conservation strategies, rests in large part on the fate of the shamans and their apprentices. To address this rapidly deteriorating situation, ACT has placed a significant emphasis on revitalizing and fortifying the transmission of traditional knowledge to younger generations.
Shamans and Apprentices
ACT currently runs two parallel traditional medicinal apprenticeship programs in areas with strong surviving botanical medicine traditions, one in southwestern Colombia and the other in southern Suriname. In both programs, promising apprentices are paired to specific mentor shamans from whom they learn and record healing practices and botanical knowledge. The shamans represent an unbroken lineage of tradition that stretches back thousands of years, and are among the most authentic shamans to be found anywhere on the planet.
In most cases, through the compassion of our donors, ACT has been able to guarantee a modest stipend to elderly at-risk shamans, and to enable apprentices to focus on their intensive training. Funding is also provided so that shamans may maintain personal medicinal plant gardens to supply their practices. To help them diversify their knowledge base, apprentices are provided with training in sustainable agriculture, basic accounting and recordkeeping. The basic technical skills acquired will later help them to survive within a larger market economy, if need be, while enhancing their contributions to their own communities.
Read more about this program in:
Women Healers
In many cases, the future of Amazonian women healers is more uncertain than that of their male counterparts, since their position is typically far less visible and they are fewer in number. In Colombia, ACT has taken measures to specifically address the urgent circumstances of women healers. More...