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Fish Folk Medicine of Caiçara (Atlantic Coastal Forest) and Caboclo (Amazon Forest) Communities

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Animals in Traditional Folk Medicine

Abstract

Medicines and foods are not always exclusive categories in ethnopharmacology. What is eaten, the diets of the animals being consumed, which foods are healthy, and which foods should not be eaten when one is sick are some examples of the ways in which native populations interact with foods, medicines, and natural resources. This study examined native fishing communities in the Atlantic Forest (the Caiçaras) and in the Amazon region (the Caboclos) regarding their medicinal uses of fish and their food taboos. An analysis of those categories and recommendations for conservation practices are presented, taking into consideration the cultural habits of the studied communities.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for several earlier fruitful collaborations between us and Jose Geraldo W. Marques; we thank FAPESP for grants provided to many of our projects in Ethnobiology, and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for the research productivity scholarship provided to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries & Food Institute (FIFO) and ECOMAR, UNISANTA, Rua Oswaldo Cruz 277, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Alpina Begossi & Milena Ramires

  2. CMU, UNICAMP (CP 6023), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Alpina Begossi

Authors
  1. Alpina Begossi
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  2. Milena Ramires
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Correspondence to Alpina Begossi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , CCBS - Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraiba, Av. Baraúnas 351, Campina Grande, 58-109753, Paraíba, Brazil

    Rômulo Romeu Nóbrega Alves

  2. , CCEN / Depto. de Sistemático, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, 58059-900, Paraíba, Brazil

    Ierecê Lucena Rosa

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Begossi, A., Ramires, M. (2013). Fish Folk Medicine of Caiçara (Atlantic Coastal Forest) and Caboclo (Amazon Forest) Communities. In: Alves, R., Rosa, I. (eds) Animals in Traditional Folk Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29026-8_6

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