Tropical Botany and Ethnobotany Field Course this Winter

[Melanie Colón]

The Tropical Conservation Consortium is offering a Tropical Botany and

Ethnobotany Field Course this Winter in Bocas del Toro, Panama from

December 19 - January 2.

 

This 2 week intensive field course covers Ethnobotany in the context of

tropical rainforest and island ecosystems. The material covered is

equivalent to an upper level university course in Ethnobotany. The

course explores the biocultural diversity of the Bocas del Toro

Archipelago with visits to communities on 3 different islands. Readings

and lectures focus on the plant use and traditional cultures of Panama

and the surrounding regions of Central America, South America, and the

Caribbean, as well as innovative methodologies and current theory in the

discipline of Ethnobotany.

 

Much of the course is spent learning field techniques and carrying out

various class activities and exercises in the surrounding rainforests

and local indigenous communities. The course includes demonstrations by

traditional healers, herbalists, artisans, and other specialists who

utilize plants. Students have the opportunity to gain research

experience through fieldwork in the local communities, that will

contribute to our long-term ethnobotanical research program.

 

For more information, please visit the Tropical Conservation Consortium

website at: www.tropicalcc.org/ethnobotany