Abstract
Ethnobiology is a clearly interdisciplinary field, with several connections to other research approaches, such as studies examining traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). The central question investigated is if Brazilian studies are disproportionately attached to the prefix “ethno” when compared to the profiles of other countries with high contributions to these scientific fields. I used a bibliometric review to investigate this question and discussed several outcomes of the resulting patterns. I retrieved 8470 articles, 6117 using keywords associated with TEK and 2954 using keywords associated with ethnobiology and related subfields. A unique scenario emerges only for Brazil, where there is a stronger attachment to the ethno prefix than the rest of the world, which reflects the history of these scientific approaches and the context of scientific production.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agra, M. F., Silva, K. N., Basílio, I. J. L. D., Freitas, P. F., & Barbosa-Filho, J. M. (2008). Survey of medicinal plants used in the region Northeast of Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 18(3), 472–508.
Agrawal, A. (2001). Common property institutions and sustainable governance of resources. World Development, 29(10), 1649–1672.
Albuquerque, U. P., Lucena, R. F. P., Cunha, L. V. F. C., & Alves, R. R. N. (2014). Methods and techniques in ethnobiology and ethnoecology. New York: Springer.
Albuquerque, U. P., Silva, J. S., Campos, J. L. A., Sousa, R. S., Silva, T. C., & Alves, R. N. (2013). The current status of ethnobiological research in Latin America: Gaps and perspectives. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 9, 72.
Alves, A. G. C. & Albuquerque, U. P. (2010). Ethno what? Terminological problems in ethnoscience with a special emphasis on the Brazilian context. In U. P. Albuquerque, N. Hanazaki. (Org.), Recent developments and case studies in ethnobotany (pp. 67–79). Recife: Nupeea.
Alves, A. G. C. & Souto, F. J. B. (2010). Etnoecologia ou etnoecologias?: encarando a diversidade conceitual. In A. G. C. Alves, F. J. B. Souto, N. Peroni (Org.), Etnoecologia em perspectiva: natureza, cultura e conservação (pp. 17–39). Recife: Nupeea.
Assis, A. L. A. A., Zank, S., Peroni, N. & Hanazaki, N. (2013). Traditional people and the conservation of biodiversity in Brazil. In W.S.de Boef, A. Subedi, N. Peroni, M. Thijssen, E. O’Keefe. (Org.), Community biodiversity management: Promoting resilience and the conservation of plant genetic resources (pp. 133–140). London: Earthscan/Routledge.
Begossi, A., Hanazaki, N., & Tamashiro, J. Y. (2002). Medicinal plants and the Atlantic Forest: Knowledge, use and conservation. Human Ecology, 30(3), 281–299.
Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Folke, C. (2000). Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecological Applications, 10, 1251–1262.
Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Folke, C. (2003). Navigating social–ecological systems: Building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brasil (2000). Lei No 9.985. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9985.htm. Accessed June 22, 2014.
Brasil (2007). Decreto 6040. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2007/decreto/d6040.htm. Accessed June 22, 2014.
Chambers, R. (1994). Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Analysis of experience. World Development, 22(9), 1253–1268.
Demerath, L. (2006). Epistemological identity theory: Reconceptualizing commitment as self-knowledge. Sociological Spectrum, 26(5), 491–517.
Diegues, A. C. S., & Arruda, R. S. V. (2001). Saberes Tradicionais e Biodiversidade no Brasil. Brasília: Ministério do Meio Ambiente-MMA/Programa Nacional de Conservação da Biodiversidade.
Folke, C. (2006). Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change, 16, 253–267.
Gómez-Baggethun, E., & Reyes-García, V. (2013). Reinterpreting change in traditional ecological knowledge. Human Ecology, 41(4), 643–647.
Holling, C. S. (1973). Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 4, 1–23.
Larsen, P. O., & Ins, M. (2010). The rate of growth in scientific publication and the decline in coverage provided by Science Citation Index. Scientometrics, 84, 575–603.
Leff, E. (2004). Aventuras da epistemologia ambiental. Rio de Janeiro: Garamond.
Liporacci, H. S. (2014). Plantas Medicinais e Alimentícias na Mata Atlântica e Caatinga: uma revisão bibliográfica de cunho etnobotânico. Masters dissertation. Florianópolis: UFSC.
McClatchey, W. (2005). Exorcizing misleading terms from ethnobotany. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 3, 1–4.
Medeiros, P. M., Ladio, A. H., & Albuquerque, U. P. (2013a). Patterns of medicinal plant use by inhabitants of Brazilian urban and rural areas: A macroscale investigation based on available literature. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 150, 129–146.
Medeiros, P. M., Ladio, A. H., Santos, A. M. M., & Albuquerque, U. P. (2013b). Does the selection of medicinal plants by Brazilian local populations suffer taxonomic influence? Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 146, 842–852.
Menzies, C. R. (Ed.). (2006). Traditional ecological knowledge and natural resource management. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Nazarea, V. (1999). Ethnoecology: Situated knowledge/located lives. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Oliveira, F. C., Albuquerque, U. P., Fonseca-Kruel, V. S., & Hanazaki, N. (2009). Avanços nas pesquisas etnobotânicas no Brasil. Acta Botanica Brasílica, 23, 590–605.
Pautasso, M. (2012). Publication growth in biological sub-fields: Patterns. Predictability and Sustainability. Sustainability, 4(12), 3234–3247.
Rist, S., & Dahdouh-Guebas, F. (2006). Ethnosciences—A step towards the integration of scientific and indigenous forms of knowledge in the management of natural resources for the future. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 8(4), 467–493.
Toledo, V. M. (1992). What is ethnoecology? Origins, scope and implications of a rising discipline. Etnoecológica, 1(1), 5–21.
Wolverton, S. (2013). Ethnobiology 5: Interdisciplinarity in an era of rapid environmental change. Ethnobiology Letters, 4(1), 21–25.
Wyndham, F. S., Lepofsky, D., & Tiffany, S. (2011). Taking stock in ethnobiology: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Journal of Ethnobiology, 31, 10–127.
Acknowledgments
Thank to T. M. Miranda for suggestions on the literature review, and to CNPq for a research productivity scholarship. I am grateful to the participants of the 1st Advanced Topics in Ethnobiology Conference (Recife, 2013) and to the students of the Human Ecology and Ethnobotany Laboratory (UFSC) for discussions and insights during the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hanazaki, N. Why are we so attached to the “ethno” prefix in Brazil?. Scientometrics 103, 545–554 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1540-7
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1540-7