Traditional Medicine Among the Nahua: Contemporary and Ancient Medicinal Plants
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Research Year:  2005
Culture:  Aztec
Chronology:  Colonial to Contemporary
Location:  Ixhuatlán de Madero, Northern Veracruz, México
Site:  Amatlán

Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Health and Illness among the Nahua
Project goals
Research design and methods
Preliminary results
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Sources Cited

Abstract

This research project is a study of Aztec plant usage and taxonomy and the continuation of this knowledge to the present-day Nahua. Fieldwork was carried out in the village of Amatlán in northern Veracruz during the months of May to July 2005 and was sponsored by the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., (FAMSI). Over fifty medicinal plants were collected from this site with the help of three female healers as well as a number of laywomen who had knowledge about certain plants used in that village. For each of the plants collected, its taxonomy, uses, and location were observed and recorded. A photographic record of the plants was also kept. The plants were later identified at the herbarium of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Preliminary results of this study show a continuation of the medicinal plants belonging to the Aztec taxonomy into the present day.

Submitted 10/06/2006 by:
Vania Smith-Oka
Assistant Professor
University of Notre Dame
vsmithok@nd.edu

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