C 06 Rice and Medicinal Plants. The Cultural Construction of Medicinal and Food Plants in Southern India

Summary

The project is concerned with two kinds of resources in Southern India: rice and medicinal plants. Rice is the predominant agricultural crop in the estuarine regions of South-Eastern India, while medicinal plants mainly grow in the mountain forests of Southern India. The use of these resources and the cultivation of the respective natural environments is reflected in the socio-cultural organisation of local groups: various rituals and myths of this region are related to specific environments and landscapes and their relation to human beings. Socio-political structures and ‘gender’- concepts are equally tied to the respective ways of subsistence and the relationship between a landscape and ‘its’ people. The evaluation of natural environments, the access to them and the way they are used has changed over and over again during the processes of colonisation and de-colonisation. This affected:1. rights of jurisdiction and usage concerning natural environments 2. technologies and cultivation management 3. concepts and evaluations of nature and resources. In a parallel development the political and social structures transformed: slavery was abolished, part of the land was redistributed and social classes emerged.

Scientific Aims

Against this historical background with its profound changes in ecology, social structures and economy the project focusses on beliefs and conceptualisations relating to the resources rice and medicinal plants. It will be studied how different ways of categorisation and interpretation affect and determine the use of these resources. Based on this, it will be explored how conceptualisations and practices concerning the resources change, either through economic-technological developments (for example the introduction of genetically modified and monopolised crops or new cultivation techniques and cycles) or through governmental or international interventions concerning sustainability and environmental protection. The project also explores the interrelationships between the use of resources, the meaning of resources and identity. Within the context of the caste system resources turn people into peasants or healers and vice-versa, while the governmental control of resources affects the social and political identities of the population.

Impact for the Collaborative Research Centre

The project applies the concept of culturally constructed resources, developed for the Collaborative Research Centre. It does not assume an a priori nature of objects, living beings and ideas as ‘useful’ resources. Instead, following the ideas of Latour and Descola about the re-assessment of the relationship between nature and culture, it scrutinises how society and resource mutually create each other within a context of social, political and technological parameters. Based on this, it will be examined how the use of rice and medicinal plants under conditions controlled by government and market-economy affects and re-arranges the political and social relations and the cultural experience of the population. By this the project contributes to the central research interest of the Collaborative Research Centre, exploring the role of resources in the creation, perpetuation and transformation of institutions, communities and societies.

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