Le corps de l'homme ; l'esprit des plantes ; soigner chez les Yanesha en Haute Amazonie péruvienne

Description

Among the Yanesha, an ethnic group in the Upper Peruvian Amazon, medicinal plants play a vital role: known as pare'shemats, "those who interact with human beings," they accompany the Yanesha throughout their lives, enabling them to become and remain human. This special power dates back to mythical times, when humans and plants shared the same essence of being.

This book invites readers to discover this society by immersing themselves in its plant world. It provides the keys to understanding why and how plants are used, explaining in the first part the genesis of the universe, the conception of the person, the organization of the plant world, and illness among the Yanesha. In the second part, the therapeutic uses of more than 400 plants, identified from a botanical point of view, are detailed and presented according to the categories of Yanesha nosology.

Illustrated with numerous photos and drawings of founding myths created by a member of the Yanesha community, combining ethnobiology and anthropology, this book is intended for anyone interested in traditional medicines and pharmacopoeias, mythologies, and Amazonian societies.