Shaman and Apprentice Program

Summary

Save medicinal knowledge of indigenous tribes by partnering elder medicine men with young apprentices to share ancient healing secrets of the rainforest, and to create potential for new discoveries.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Shamans, medicine men of the rainforest, know the healing properties of countless plants – but their knowledge is at risk of imminent and permanent loss as traditional healing techniques are replaced by western medicine. This project establishes Shamans as mentors of future generations and documents their use of rainforest botanicals, which gave rise to such modern medicines as aspirin and quinine. The project benefits countless people cured by medicines and remedies born of the rainforest.

How will this project solve this problem?

Shamans from over 30 tribes preserve and perpetuate ancient indigenous knowledge by training apprentices and novices in harvesting and administering powerful healing substances, and documenting their ethnobotanical knowledge.

Potential Long Term Impact

Conservation of precious and irreplaceable indigenous knowledge, documentation of critical information, and trained healers across the generations with the capacity to administer medicinal cures.

Project Message

“The Shamans and Apprentices Program is an essential component of an effort to recover and conserve tribal culture, which in turn is part of an overall effort to achieve sustainable development.”
- Karin Boven and Jun Morohashi, Authors, Best Practices Using Indigenous Knowledge

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources