Comparative Ethnobiology in Mesoamerica: A Digital Portal for Collaborative Research and Public Dissemination

FAIN: HD-228866-15

Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, PA 17325-1483)
Jonathan D. Amith (Project Director: September 2014 to present)
Eric Remy (Co Project Director: March 2015 to present)

Prototype development of a database and website that would aggregate indigenous linguistic information relevant to Mesoamerican flora and fauna.

In 1983 Catherine Fowler completed a pioneering study of Uto-Aztecan cultural history, focused on locating the Proto-Uto-Aztecan homeland by linking reconstructed PUA biological terms to the historic distribution of biological species labeled by these terms. Others have studied loan patterns in biological nomenclature among non-genetically related languages to develop models of migration and linguistic and cultural convergence in prehistoric periods. These two complementary approaches require an immense dataset of biological terminology from diverse languages. To achieve this dataset for Mesoamerica, an area characterized both by extensive migration and great biodiversity, this project will create an innovative portal to facilitate the exchange of information on Indigenous nomenclature, classification and use of biotaxa. This portal will enable a community of scholars to share material that would otherwise languish for years before, if ever, being disseminated in a print publication.

Associated Products

Voucher collections of plants from ethnobotanical collections (Acquisitions/Materials Collection)
Name: Voucher collections of plants from ethnobotanical collections
Abstract: Over the past year of the grant the PI, Amith, has created an extensive resource of ethnobotanical material from communities speaking Sierra Nororiental de Puebla Nahuat. He as worked in the municipalities of Cuetzalan and Huitzilan de Serdan, collecting approximately 1000 vouchers associated with plants that are named, classified, and (often) used by the Indigenous villages in which he has worked. He has also developed extended collaboration with David Beck (Dept. Linguistics, U. of Alberta) who has committed himself and his students to extend ethnobotanical research to four Totonac communities in the Sierra Norte and Nororiental de Puebla. Preliminary research has begun in one of these communities: Chicontla. The voucher plant specimens have been and are being deposited in MEXU (the national herbarium of Mexico), HUAP (the state herbarium of Puebla, Mexico), US (the national herbarium of the United States at the Smithsonian), and MO (the Missouri Botanical Gardens). An additional voucher is saved to give to a taxonomist specialist for determination to species. In sum, Amith and Beck have created material collections in terms of plant voucher specimens deposited in major herbaria and accompanied (on the labels) by botanical and ethnobotanical data.
Director: Jonathan D. Amith
Year: 2015

Summary fieldguide to plants in the Nahuat village of Xinachapan (Catalog)
Title: Summary fieldguide to plants in the Nahuat village of Xinachapan
Author: Jonathan D. Amith
Abstract: The item is a summary illustrated field guide to plants named, classified, and (often) used by members of the Nahuat-speaking community of Xinachapan, municipality of Huitzilan de Serdan, state of Puebla, Mexico. The total number of plants collected to date is just under 200 (though only 140 are presently in the field guide). The photographs and data included in this guide will be incorporated into the digital database for Mesoamerican ethnobotany the construction of which is supported by the present NEH grant.
Year: 2015

Summary fieldguide to plants in the Totonac villages of Chicontla and Patla (Catalog)
Title: Summary fieldguide to plants in the Totonac villages of Chicontla and Patla
Author: David Beck
Author: Jonathan D. Amith
Abstract: The item is a summary illustrated field guide to plants named, classified, and (often) used by members of the Totonac-speaking communities of Chicontla and Patla, municipality of Joapala, state of Puebla, Mexico. The total number of plants collected to date is just under 150. The photographs and data included in this guide will be incorporated into the digital database for Mesoamerican ethnobotany the construction of which is supported by the present NEH grant.
Year: 2015
Catalog Type: Other

Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America: Sierra Noriental de Puebla (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America: Sierra Noriental de Puebla
Author: Jonathan D. Amith
Abstract: Amith has deposited all material developed as part of his documentation and ethnobotanical research in several Nahuat-speaking communities. Relevant to this project is a database (and plant labels generated from this database) of all ethnobotanical material collected in the Sierra Nororiental. Included also are 579 digital recordings and transcription directly about plants named, classified, and used by Nahuat speakers in the region. Also included are 80 recordings about medicinal plants and 104 files about animals (particularly arthropods). Eventually all this material will be also be accessible through the digital portal that this project is funding though this initial grant will only build a prototype with varied example materials.
Year: 2015

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