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Abstract
Objective: To describe the learning process regarding useful flora in a indigenous community.
Design/methodology/approach: Six visits were made with a total of 72 days of fieldwork. The ethnographic method was conducted, using the following techniques: one participatory workshop, 23 semi-structured interviews, several preferential open interviews to key informants and participatory observation.
Results: The learning process had two components: knowledge transmission by neighbouring communities and own experimentation, the first one being the most used. Besides, the useful flora was studied, obtaining a floristic list of 119 species.
Study limitations/implications: No applicable.
Discoveries/conclusions: To know the transmission of knowledge process is very important to understand the erosion or loss of knowledge in a world of social changes, that is why in this study the ethnographic record was determinant to document the learning process and adaptation of this community in a very different environment. Despite neighbouring communities were the main source of information regarding the use of resources, the own experimentation based on trial and error also was a phenomenon that occurred, which indicates the investigative nature of the human being. The number of useful species represented around 25% of the total species reported in the preliminary floristic inventory of this community, which means that the acquisition of knowledge has been in such a way that has allowed adaptation to this new environment in only nine years living in this place.
