"Not just plants, but also plants": A political ontology of Pohã Ñana, the medicinal plants of the Guarani-Kaiowá

Essam, Alice 2024. "Not just plants, but also plants": A political ontology of Pohã Ñana, the medicinal plants of the Guarani-Kaiowá. Agoriad 1 (1) , 1.6. 10.18573/agoriad.13

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (466kB) | Preview

Abstract

This article explores the political ontology of the Guarani-Kaiowá, Indigenous people of today’s Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, and their medicinal plants, pohã ñana. The contention, articulated by a Brazilian public health research team, that these plants are ‘not just plants, but also plants’ is investigated and traced back to cosmology. The inseparability of cosmology, ontology, epistemology and practices in relation to medicinal plants and the Guarani-Kaiowá is demonstrated and presented as 'storied performativity' (Blaser 2014). The article shows how the political ontology of the Guarani-Kaiowá is shaped by their resistance against agribusiness development in Indigenous lands and forests, along with their struggle to realise a cosmo-political life, which includes medicinal plants found (and lost) in the forests that have become monoculture. Medicinal plants and associated knowledge and practices have thus become important features of their resistance and political ontology. The article also reviews recent collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers regarding these knowledges and practices that attempt to bring Indigenous knowledge and politics into dialogue with Western epistemology, an important challenge for the harmonious co-existence of multiple ontologies, otherwise conceptualised as the ‘pluriverse’. Blaser’s political ontology framework helps to reveal the multiple dimensions to this Indigenous ontology. Mae'r erthygl hon yn trin a thrafod ontoleg wleidyddol y Guarani-Kaiowá, pobl frodorol rhanbarth cyfredol Mato Grosso do Sul ym Mrasil, a'u planhigion meddyginiaethol, pohã ñana. Mae’r ddadl a fynegir gan dîm ymchwil iechyd cyhoeddus o Frasil ‘nad planhigion ydy’r rhain unig, ond planhigion hefyd' yn cael ei hymchwilio a’i holrhain at gosmoleg. Mae natur anwahanadwy cosmoleg, ontoleg, epistemoleg ac arferion mewn perthynas â phlanhigion meddyginiaethol a'r Guarani-Kaiowá yn cael ei ddangos a'i gyflwyno i fod yn 'berfformedd darluniadol' (Blaser 2014). Mae'r erthygl yn dangos sut mae ontoleg wleidyddol y Guarani-Kaiowá yn cael ei llunio gan eu gwrthwynebiad i ddatblygiad busnes amaethyddol ar diroedd ac mewn coedwigoedd brodorol, ynghyd â'u brwydr i fyw bywydau cosmo-wleidyddol, sy'n cynnwys planhigion meddyginiaethol y’u canfyddir (a’u collir) yn y coedwigoedd sydd bellach yn diroedd amaethyddol ungnwd. O ganlyniad i hyn, mae planhigion meddyginiaethol a’r wybodaeth a’r arferion sy’n gysylltiedig â nhw wedi dod yn nodweddion pwysig o'u gwrthsafiad a'u hontoleg wleidyddol. Mae'r erthygl hefyd yn adolygu enghraifft o gydweithredu diweddar rhwng ymchwilwyr o dras frodorol ac anfrodorol am y wybodaeth a'r arferion hyn, sy'n ceisio dod â gwybodaeth a gwleidyddiaeth frodorol i gynnal deialog ag epistemoleg y Gorllewin. Mae’n her bwysig gyda’r diben o gael sawl ontoleg i gydfodoli’n gytûn, sydd hefyd yn cael ei chysyniadu fel yr ‘aml-barth’ (pluriverse). Bydd fframwaith ontoleg wleidyddol Blaser o gymorth wrth ddatgelu dimensiynau lluosog yr ontoleg frodorol hon.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	2976-8578
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 December 2024
Date of Acceptance:	13 November 2024
Last Modified:	22 Jan 2025 09:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/174663

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item