Local knowledge about palms (Arecaceae) among children in Bolivia

Abstract

Palms are one of the most important plant families to rural communities, contributing to subsistence and daily livelihoods. Several studies have investigated the usefulness of palms among adult populations. However, data concerning local knowledge of children are rare or lacking. The objective of this study was to document knowledge about palms among children in Bolivia and to improve understanding of the process of knowledge accumulation. Nine communities inhabited by three different ethnic groups in two different areas were studied. Overall, 290 children 6-13 years old were interviewed. Data gathering was divided into: semi-structured interviews; informal walks in the forest; and drawing sessions. Statistical analyses were performed in R. In total, 521 different palm uses were reported for 27 palm species in nine distinct categories. The highest number of uses was reported for Attalea princeps, Bactris gasipaes, Oenocarpus bataua and Euterpe precatoria. The most common use categories were Human food, Construction, Utensils and tools, and Cultural uses. Our results show that the process of learning started early in childhood. Future ethnobotanical studies should focus on even younger children to understand better the process of knowledge accumulation.

Rates of ecological knowledge learning in Pemba, Tanzania: Implications for childhood evolution.

“…Indeed, while both sexes learn at the same rate knowledge that is shared, see dimension 1 in figure 5, boys have access to a whole area of information that is precluded to girls, which is represented in dimension 2 in the same figure. Our result could help explain why previous studies showed inconsistencies in the amount of knowledge differences found between the sexes (Blacutt-Rivero et al, 2016;Cruz-garcia et al, 2018;Gallois et al, 2017;Geng et al, 2016;Schniter et al, 2021;Setalaphruk & Price, 2007).…”

“…Following the assumption that labor division along gender lines entails knowledge specializations, we also investigate sex differences in ecological knowledge. Previous studies provide contrasting results on whether boys and girls differ in their levels of ecological knowledge (Blacutt-Rivero, Moraes R., Gruca, & Balslev, 2016;Cruz-garcia et al, 2018;Gallois et al, 2017;Geng et al, 2016;Schniter et al, 2021;Setalaphruk & Price, 2007).…”

Rates of ecological knowledge learning in Pemba, Tanzania: Implications for childhood evolution

“…Indeed, while both sexes learn at similar rates ecological knowledge that is shared, see left panel in Figure 5, boys have access to a whole area of information that is precluded to girls, which is represented in the central panel of the same figure. Our result could help explain why previous studies showed inconsistencies in the amount of knowledge differences found between the sexes (Blacutt-Rivero et al, 2016;Cruz-garcia et al, 2018;Gallois et al, 2017;Geng et al, 2016;Schniter et al, 2021;Setalaphruk & Price, 2007). Indeed, the multidimensional nature of ecological knowledge means that the survey design impacts the ability to measure knowledge evenly across dimensions, potentially overestimating the importance of one dimension above the others (e.g.…”

Growing up in the Betsileo landscape: Children’s wild edible plants knowledge in Madagascar

“…Regarding age, studies explored the intracultural differences due to generational variations [ 14 , 15 , 17 ], but very few have embedded children into the sampling [ 18 ]. So far, most research addressing knowledge distribution within a society describes age as a factor shaping knowledge accumulation, rather than knowledge differentiation [ 15 , 19 ]. In other words, children are generally considered as “adults to be”, rather than a group with distinctive knowledge [ 20 ].…”