Traditional pharmacopoeias and medicines among Albanians and Italians in southern Italy: A comparison

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2005.04.028Get rights and content

Abstract

A cross-cultural comparison of traditional household remedies in primary health care and ritual healing practices in two economically and socio-demographically similar communities in Lucania (inland southern Italy) was considered: Ginestra/Zhurë, inhabited by ethnic Albanians, who migrated to the area during the 15th century, and Castelmezzano, inhabited by autochthonous South-Italians. In Ginestra/Zhurë, the number of traditional natural remedies (mainly derived from local medicinal plants) was only half of that in the local folk pharmacopoeia quoted in Castelmezzano. However, ritual magic-healing practices still play a central role among the Albanians in Ginestra/Zhurë, while they do not in Castelmezzano. Reasons for this shift, as well as components that have affected cultural adaptation phenomena and transitions among the Albanians are discussed.

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to compare the use of traditional natural remedies and healing practices in two small rural communities located in the Lucania region of southern Italy. One of the communities, Ginestra/Zhurë, is inhabited primarily by ethnic Albanians (called Arbëreshë), who immigrated to the region in the 15th century. The other community, Castelmezzano, is inhabited by autochthonous South-Italians. A detailed survey of the traditional1 ethnopharmaceutical means and food-medicines recorded in the two communities has been the primary topic of other papers (Quave and Pieroni, 2002, Pieroni et al., 2002a, Pieroni et al., 2002b, Pieroni et al., 2004a, Pieroni et al., 2004b).

Most studies on current Mediterranean folk pharmacopoeias, not being limited to historical literature-based perspectives (Afifi and Abu-Irmaileh, 2000, Lev and Amar, 2000, Lev and Amar, 2002, Lev, 2002, Said et al., 2002, Abu-Irmaileh and Afifi, 2003), have focused on the role of natural remedies (mainly medicinal plants) within a single cultural context (see for example in the last 4 years: Bonet et al., 1999, Guarrera, 1999, Guarrera, 2003, Tuzlaci and Erol, 1999, Yesilada et al., 1999, Agelet et al., 2000, Alvarez Arias, 2000, Ertug, 2000, Merzouki et al., 2000, Tuzlaci and Tolon, 2000, Agelet and Valles, 2001, Agelet and Valles, 2003a, Agelet and Valles, 2003b, Ballero et al., 2001, Jouad et al., 2001, Leporatti and Corradi, 2001, Sezik et al., 2001, Palmese et al., 2001, Tuzlaci and Aymaz, 2001, Eddouks et al., 2002, Camejo-Rodrigues et al., 2003, El-Hilaly et al., 2003, Pieroni et al., 2003), while only one work has recently tried a cross-cultural comparison among the traditional phytotherapeutic data (gathered from bibliographic resources) of Italy and Bulgaria (Leporatti and Ivancheva, 2003). On the other hand, detailed medical-anthropological surveys on ritual magic-healing practices in this area have been very rarely conducted (Kemp, 1935, De Martino, 1959, Kerewski-Halpern and Foley, 1978, Galt, 1982, Galt, 1991, Kerewski-Halpern, 1985, Kerewski-Halpern, 1995).

In other surveys and sites of field study, little emphasis has been placed on a truly medical-anthropological comparison of folk pharmaceutical remedies among various ethnic groups that share a close territory, and most of these studies have had a strong ethnobiological/ethnobotanical focus (Heinrich et al., 1998, Moerman, 1998, Leonti et al., 2003). In addition, medical literature on this subject has rarely considered the “remedies” (pharmaceutical means) as a paradigm for understanding cultural differences in healing systems (Kelleher and Hillier, 1996).

In Europe, no comparative studies with original data has been carried out so far, although a comparative evaluation of ethnopharmaceutical issues may represent a first step to better understanding the cultural components influencing the perception of pharmaceutical means in different cultures, how these components change and evolve, and which strategies cultures put in place to face these changes.

Finally, analysing these phenomena within migrant communities could allow us to evaluate adaptive cultural processes, which strongly affect how newcomers, and among them maybe especially women, manage plants in the domestic domain and cope with household health care (Kuebel and Tucker, 1988, Stephenson, 1995, Balick et al., 2000, Corlett et al., 2002, Gladis, 2002, Gladis, 2003, Jonsson et al., 2002a, Jonsson et al., 2002b, Greenberg, 2003, Nguyen, 2003, Reiff et al., 2003).

Section snippets

Research settings and methods

In the present study, the traditional medical practices of two communities in the Basilicata region (Lucania), southern Italy were compared (Fig. 1). The Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT, 2000) reports that Basilicata represents the Italian region having the lowest percentage of urban population (17%, calculated in the period 1997–1999), the highest life expectancy (75.7 years, calculated in the period 1991–1995), and presents the lowest utilization of allopathic medical services

Complementary medicines in Lucania today

It has become evident from our field studies that Traditional Knowledge (TK) on complementary medical practices in the two chosen areas is in a state of rapid decline. Most of the plant remedies recorded are not used at present. In Ginestra/Zhurë, only 40% of the quoted uses were also directly observed during field research, while an even lower proportion of 31% was observed in Castelmezzano. Complementary medicine in both centres demonstrates a household character, and is intended mainly as a

Conclusions

Understanding the dominant medical-belief system of a community is essential to any ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants. In this cross-cultural comparison of two communities sharing a similar terrain and socio-demographic character, we found that the influence of culture and ethnicity played a unique and important role in the utilization of local resources as medicinal products. While we found that a similar flora was utilized in both of the communities’ pharmacopoeias, the number and

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to all the marvelous people of the municipalities of Castelmezzano and Zhurë/Ginestra, who agreed to share their knowledge on folk medicines during the years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003; to Dr Giuseppe Pepice and Massimo Summa, Mayor and Vice-Mayor of Ginestra/Zhurë, and Dr Nicola Valluzzi, Mayor of Castelmezzano, and the Pro-Loco of Ginestra/Zhurë and Castelmezzano, for their logistical assistance.

For their financial support, special thanks are due to the Mars Nutritional

References (79)

  • M. Eddouks et al.

    Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiac diseases in the south-east region of Morocco (Tafilalet)

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2002)
  • J. El-Hilaly et al.

    Ethnobotanical studies and economic evaluation of medicinal plants in Taounate province (Northern Morocco)

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2003)
  • N.L. Etkin et al.

    The indigenization of Pharmaceuticals: therapeutic transitions in rural Hausaland

    Social Science & Medicine

    (1990)
  • P.M. Guarrera

    Traditional antihelmintic, antiparasitic and repellent uses of plants in Central Italy

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (1999)
  • P.M. Guarrera

    Food medicine and minor nourishment in the folk traditions of Central Italy (Marche Abruzzo and Latium)

    Fitoterapia

    (2003)
  • M. Heinrich et al.

    Medicinal plants in Mexico: healers’ consensus and cultural importance

    Social Science & Medicine

    (1998)
  • H. Jouad et al.

    Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used for the treatment of diabetes, cardiac and renal diseases in the North centre region of Morocco (Fez-Boulemane)

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2001)
  • M. Leonti et al.

    Antiquity of medicinal plant usage in two Macro-Mayan ethnic groups (Mexico)

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2003)
  • M.L. Leporatti et al.

    Ethnopharmacobotanical remarks on the Province of Chieti town (Abruzzo, Central Italy)

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2001)
  • M.L. Leporatti et al.

    Preliminary comparative analysis of medicinal plants used in the traditional medicine of Bulgaria and Italy

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2003)
  • E. Lev et al.

    Ethnopharmacological survey of traditional drugs sold in Israel at the end of the 20th century

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2000)
  • E. Lev et al.

    Ethnopharmacological survey of traditional drugs sold in the Kingdom of Jordan

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2002)
  • A. Merzouki et al.

    Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and abortion

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2000)
  • M.T. Palmese et al.

    An ethno-pharmacobotanical survey in the Sarrabus district (south-east Sardinia)

    Fitoterapia

    (2001)
  • A. Pieroni

    Medicinal plants and food medicines in the folk traditions of the upper Lucca Province, Italy

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2000)
  • A. Pieroni et al.

    Ethnobotanical knowledge of the Istro-Romanians of Zejane in Croatia

    Fitoterapia

    (2003)
  • A. Pieroni et al.

    Ethnopharmacology of liakra: traditional weedy vegetables of the Arbershe of the Vulture area in southern Italy

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2002)
  • A. Pieroni et al.

    Folk pharmaceutical knowledge in the territory of the Dolomiti Lucane, inland southern Italy

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2004)
  • A. Pieroni et al.

    Ethnopharmacy of the ethnic Albanians (Arbëreshë) of northern Basilicata, Italy

    Fitoterapia

    (2002)
  • O. Said et al.

    Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal herbs in Israel, the Golan Heights and the West Bank region

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2002)
  • E. Sezik et al.

    Traditional medicine in Turkey X. Folk medicine in Central Anatolia

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (2001)
  • P.H. Stephenson

    Vietnamese refugees in Victoria B.C.: an overview of immigrant and refugee health care in a medium-sized Canadian urban centre

    Social Science & Medicine

    (1995)
  • W. Tousijn

    Medical dominance in Italy: a partial decline

    Social Science & Medicine

    (2002)
  • E. Tuzlaci et al.

    Turkish folk medicinal plants. Part IV. Gonen (Balikesir)

    Fitoterapia

    (2001)
  • E. Tuzlaci et al.

    Turkish folk medicinal plants. Part IV. Gonen (Balikesir)

    Fitoterapia

    (1999)
  • E. Tuzlaci et al.

    Turkish folk medicinal plants. Part III. Sile (Istanbul)

    Fitoterapia

    (2000)
  • E. Yesilada et al.

    Traditional medicine in Turkey EX: folk medicine in north-west Anatolia

    Journal of Ethnopharmacology

    (1999)
  • A. Agelet et al.

    Homegardens and their role as a main source of medicinal plants in mountain regions of Catalonia (Iberian Peninsula)

    Economic Botany

    (2000)
  • M.J. Balick et al.

    Medicinal plants used by Latino healers for women's health conditions in New York City

    Economic Botany

    (2000)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text