The term chiefdom is used to characterize social complexity in stateless societies. Despite pointed criticism of evolutionary typologies, the chiefdom and related formulations provide a framework for comparative studies of evolution aimed at understanding the development of central decision-making hierarchies and social inequalities. Over the past 10 years, our understanding of chiefdoms has fundamentally changed as a result of substantial historical and archaeological studies. Research has shifted away from schemes to classify societies as chiefdoms or not, towards considerations of the causes of the observed variability. As the details of analysis have sharpened, the basic concerns with economy and adaptation have broadened to consider political and ideological matters. This review seeks to capture an emerging consensus on the nature of chiefly societies and the causes of their evolution.

Chiefdoms in archaeological and ethnohistorical perspective

This study focuses on knowledge of medicinal plants among the Caicaras (rural inhabitants of the Atlantic Forest coast, Brazil). In particular, we examine the use of medicinal plants according to sex and age to reveal general patterns of Caicara knowledge and use of plant resources. Data collected through 449 interviews at 12 Caicara communities (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo coastal sites) include citations of 249 plants and identification of 227 species. We show the importance of introduced as opposed to native plants and of key individuals for the conservation of the Caicaras-Atlantic Forest.

Medicinal Plants in the Atlantic Forest (Brazil): Knowledge, Use, and Conservation

Caicaras are native inhabitants of the Atlantic coast on southeastern Brazil, whose subsistence is based especially on agriculture and artisanal fishing. Because of their knowledge about the environment acquired through generations, Caicara people can play an important role in Atlantic Forest conservation. An ethnobotanical study was conducted within two Caicara communities (Ponta do Almada and Camburi beach, Sao Paulo State, Brazil), focusing on plant uses. In 102 interviews, 227 plant ethnospecies were quoted, mainly for food, medicine, handicraft and construction of houses and canoes. People from studied communities depend on the native vegetation for more than a half of the species known and used. Using diversity indices, plant uses are compared between studied communities and between gender and age categories within each community. We found quantitative differences in the knowledge about plants between gender categories for each kind of use (medicinal, food and handicrafts). Older and younger informants also have different knowledge about plants for handicraft and medicine, but not for edible plants.

Diversity of plant uses in two Caiçara communities from the Atlantic Forest coast, Brazil

The application of ecological concepts to ethnobotanical studies, in particular of diversity, is analyzed. Diversity indices are important tools that may help in understanding human-environment interactions. Those indices allow comparisons on the use of plants by different populations in different environments. A review on recent major ethnobotanical journals was carried out, and 10 studies (7 from Latin America, 2 from Asia and 1 from Europe) were selected based on available data to calculate diversity indices. The Shannon-Wiener indices and rarefaction curves were obtained. High diversity on plant uses were found for studies carried out at Peru, Mexico, Brazil and Thailand. A low diversity was found for Tonga, and island biogeography theory is used to discuss these results. Sampling effort is evaluated through rarefaction curves. The estimation of the diversity of resources used by native populations may be useful when planning conservation areas and their management.

Use of ecological methods in ethnobotany: diversity indices

Data based on independent interviews with 45 herbalists of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya, comprised 1129 remedy reports and related to 330 species of plants. While 49% of the remedies were encountered only once we list here 66 remedies (49 taxa) that were confirmed through independent reports from three or more individuals. A log-linear model was applied to these data in order to establish criteria for evaluating the likely efficacy of specific remedies. A quantitative interaction effect was calculated for each remedy as a measure of its degree of confirmation. The validity of the values derived from the mathematical model is considered in relation to classical criteria for evaluating ethnomedicinal reports.

http://www.ethnopharmacologia.org/prelude/pdf/bibio-hj-02-johns.pdf

Herbal remedies of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya: Establishing quantitative criteria for consensus

Medicinal plants identified by Miskito informants in Awastara, Nicaragua, were collected in the field. They are listed and botanically identified in this paper. Particularly interesting among the collection of 23 plant species are those used to cure snakebite and athlete’s foot, as observed in the field.

Herbal medicine among the miskito of Eastern Nicaragua

The Miskito kings of eastern Nicaragua and Honduras have been described as British puppets whose authority depended solely on their role as middlemen. This paper suggests that the kings also may have been leaders of real stature in their own society, whose legitimacy was based on different cultural conceptions of leadership than those held by the British. [political anthropology, kingship, middlemen, Miskito Indians, Central American ethnology]

https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ae.1984.11.4.02a00060

kingship among the Miskito

. Brief History of Central America. Hector Perez-Brignoli. Berkeley: University of California Press,1989 (First Spanish language edition published in 1985). 239 pp. $45.00 (cloth), $10.95 (paper). ISBN 0-520-06832-7, ISBN 0-520-06832-7.

A Brief History of Central America

Drunks are accorded great social license in Oaxacan villages. They may shout insults, intrude uninvited into social gatherings, and behave in other normally unacceptable ways. This paper analyzes the drunk's role in terms suggested by Goffman's "dramaturgical analogy," as a highly functional and sometimes entertaining part in the ongoing drama of community life. Village conceptions of drunken behavior are seen to create that behavior, apart from the alcohol intake which is its ostensible cause. Invest me in my motley; give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of the infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine. Shakespeare [As You Like It, II, vii]

https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1975.77.4.02a00080

Philip A. Dennis

Papers

Herbal medicine among the miskito of Eastern Nicaragua

kingship among the Miskito

A Brief History of Central America

The Role of the Drunk in a Oaxacan Village