Diagnostic concepts and medicinal plant use of the Chatino (Oaxaca, Mexico) with a comparison of Chinese medicine

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between traditional medical concepts and corresponding medicinal plant use through a comparison of diagnosis and treatment among the Chatino of Oaxaca, Mexico (and to a lesser extent among the Zapotec and Chinantec) and Chinese medicine. Both cultures classify symptoms and medicinal plants according to similar medical concepts such as "heat," "cold," "blood" and "wind." This correspondence between symptom and plant folk classification forms an important basis for treatment. Diagnostic concepts of Chatino medicine were examined in depth, based on two years of ethnomedical and ethnobotanical fieldwork in Oaxaca, Mexico. A detailed ethnographic description of Santa Cruz Zenzontepec, the main study site, and a presentation of Chatino medicine comprise a major portion of the dissertation. Theoretical issues, such as classification by personalistic and naturalistic etiologies, that pertain to the comparative study of Non-Western medicine and are relevant to an appreciation of the importance of diagnosis to plant use are addressed. Chatino and Chinese medical concepts are discussed in a cross-cultural context, delineating areas of comparability and divergence in the medical concepts and their associated symptoms. Chinantec plants for blood from Browner's published data were analyzed for possible correlation between chemical components and the traditional illness categories using cluster analysis. Patterns of broad chemical classes corresponded to the illness categories. A procedural method for systematic examination of the relationship between plant chemistry and plant use was developed and the results should be predictive for plants with analogous uses across cultures.