Maya Folk Botany And Knowledge Devolution: Modernization And Intra-Community Variability In The Acquisition Of Folkbotanical Knowledge

One potential source of folkbiological knowledge loss is changing patterns of interaction with the natural world stemming from “modernizing” material change. This article compares models of plant knowledge among age-matched groups of children and adults in two communities of a municipality located in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Use of the Cultural Consensus Model (CCM), analysis of residual agreement, and examination of model content show that while plant knowledge remains fairly robust in the municipality, devolutionary change is ongoing and manifests in the urbanized municipal town center relative to a rural outlying hamlet.