Study of plants used in ancestral Medicine of the Pataxó Hãhãhãi people, Pau Brasil, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The Pataxó Hãhãhãi have important knowledge that can contribute to the study of plants with therapeutic potential and encourage the practices of the medicinal culture of this people; since part of this knowledge was interrupted as a result of the processes of the struggle for their territory. In this context, this project aims to study the plants used in the ancestral Medicine of the Pataxó Hãhãhãi people, Pau Brasil, Bahia, Brazil. To do so, the plants involved in their curative and preventive medical practices will be described; as well as will be investigated, from the scientific literature, which of these plants already have studies that guarantee safety and effectiveness in their use. Finally, make this data available to the Pataxó Hãhãhãi people, through didactic material. This project is divided into two stages, in phase 1, methods and techniques of participatory ethnobotany will be used by an indigenous researcher belonging to the Pataxó Hãhãhãi people, to record the plants and medical practices used by the elders. In phase 2, bibliographic consultations will be carried out, in the main scientific databases, with the purpose of finding studies that confirm the efficacy and safety of the plants surveyed in phase 1. Furthermore, didactic materials will be organized: I) with a view to registering this Medicine for generations future, preferably in the native language of this people; and II) guidance materials on the effectiveness and safety of said plants. The format and content of these materials will be discussed with the Pataxó Hãhãhãi indigenous community, aiming at their definition in order to reflect the identity of the people involved. (AU)