Ethnobotanical knowledge as heritage: the urban homegardens in the small cities of the Historical Valley of São Paulo

Authors

  • Guilherme Reis Ranieri Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Ambiental (PROCAM), Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  • Silvia Helena Zanirato Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Ambiental (PROCAM), Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v49i0.58220

Keywords:

urban agriculture, social vulnerability, knowledge dissipation, knowledge transmission, edible pants

Abstract

In the cities of São José do Barreiro and Areias, in the Vale Histórico Paulista, it is possible to find, inside the urban center, spaces where the cultivation of vegetables and fruits still exists. In these urban homegardens, there are plants and also people who have familiarity with these plants, which allow us to consider these spaces as holders of botanical knowledge on food plants. Cultural and socioeconomic changes have warned that homegardens and botanical knowledge held by this population have become vulnerable. The present paper aims to discuss the knowledge about plants and the relevance of the maintenance of cultivated homegardens for the permanence and transmission of this botanical knowledge, here considered as heritage. In order to understand the richness and vulnerability of this group, residents who had urban homegardens with food cultivation plants were interviewed in order to characterize the homegardens and understand their motivations for food cultivation. From the recommended procedures for the understanding of urban ethnobotany, the interviews allowed us to understand the actions required for the maintenance of this heritage’s existence, which results in measures to contain its vulnerabilities.

Published

2018-12-30

How to Cite

Ranieri, G. R., & Zanirato, S. H. (2018). Ethnobotanical knowledge as heritage: the urban homegardens in the small cities of the Historical Valley of São Paulo. Desenvolvimento E Meio Ambiente, 49. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v49i0.58220

Issue

Section

Articles