Ethnographic research on
Mayan Ethnomedicine
Expand the knowledge-base of traditional medicine in Guatemala through basic ethnographic and ethnobotanical research co-produced with Maya scientists.
Since 2004 some of our founding members began documenting Maya medicine in the Central Highlands of Guatemala through participatory ethnographic research, producing a book on Maya Science and Technology rooted in the knowledge of Kaqchikel, Tz’utujil and K’iche’ communities around lake Atitlán, in Sololá. In 2010 we started our first transdisciplinary research project in an alliance with universities in Guatemala (UVG) and Switzerland (ETH Zurich, Zurich University), working with five Councils of Kaqchikel, K’iche’, Mam, Mopan and Q’eqchi’ elders, who created the High Council of Maya Traditional Doctors (Concejo Mayor de Médicos Mayas de Nacimiento). The work focused around the understanding and treatment of cancer in Maya medicine, giving way to more ample ethnographic research on the fundamental principles and practice of Maya medicine as practiced today in key regions where each of the five Councils was operating (namely Petén, Alta y Baja Verapaz, Izabal, Huehuetenango, Quiché, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Sololá, Chimaltenango and Sacatepéquez). This work yielded the first comprehensive book on Maya Medicine called “Raxnaq’il Nuk’aslemal” and several scientific publications in international journals.
The legacy of research advanced further with new grant partnerships with UVG and University College London (Darwin Initiative Fund), Swiss TPH-Basel University (R4D Programme)[4] and Zurich University (R4D Programme v2), producing several lay and scientific publications, as well as documentaries, on the topic. All throughout these projects with a transdisciplinary research approach, Maya scientists from the ACGERS Council of Elders worked next to academics in order to bring about further understanding on the practice of health and wellbeing among healers from the ACGERS and Rujotay K’aslemal Councils, focusing now on ethnobotanical knowledge for the treatment of chronic and infectious disease, but also on fundamentals of preventive medicine.
Today the repository of medicinal plants studied surpasses 1,000 specimens, yet it is but the tip of the iceberg. Visit our data repository to access some of the evidence generated in previous projects.
"We continue our focus to expand the knowledge-base of traditional medicine in Guatemala through grants and donations that enable basic ethnographic and ethnobotanical research co-produced with Maya scientists."