TRADITIONAL BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE VARIATION BETWEEN GENDER AND AGE IN A MAKUXI COMMUNITY IN RORAIMA SAVANNA, NORTHERN BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA

Abstract

The studies over the local knowledge patterns between man and woman aim to understand specific characteristics of communities in order to develop better strategies for natural resources conservation. The objective of this study was to recognize the useful species and their forms of use in order to evaluate traditional Makuxi knowledge of genders and age in the Darora community, in Sao Marcos indigenous land, Roraima State, Northern Brazil. The botanical knowledge was analyzed, considering species richness, number of citations and plant uses between gender and age groups. The research was carried out using semi-structured interviews with 60 participants (36 men and 24 women), ranging from 18 to 84 years of age.  The interview data were compared between genders and three age groups ( 60 years of age). A total of 69 species and 2.100 citations were recorded (men, 69 species in 1.446 citations; women, 52 species in 654 citations). For the age groups, 53 species were mentioned by the category 60 years. This difference was also observed in the species uses and in its parts, being timber uses the most significant purposes among men, and medicinal and food among women. The study provided an analysis of the profile of the Darora community, i.e., they are explorers of the natural resources, mainly oriented towards construction, due to the relatively recent occupation of the area (ca. 75 years ago), which evidences that they are at the establishment stage, as well as the need for medicine, probably related to the lack of health care, to the cost of industrial drugs, and also due to the belief on traditional medicine effectiveness. Results show that respondents over 40 years of age have more botanical knowledge than the younger ones. Elder men were considered the most knowledgeable regarding to the number of species and citations.