The Tropical Conservation Consortium is offering a Tropical Botany and Ethnobotany Field Course this Winter in Bocas del Toro, Panama from December 19 - January 2.
This 2 week intensive field course covers Ethnobotany in the context of tropical rainforest and island ecosystems. The material covered is equivalent to an upper level university course in Ethnobotany. The course explores the biocultural diversity of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago with visits to communities on 3 different islands. Readings and lectures focus on the plant use and traditional cultures of Panama and the surrounding regions of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, as well as innovative methodologies and current theory in the discipline of Ethnobotany. Much of the course is spent learning field techniques and carrying out various class activities and exercises in the surrounding rainforests and local indigenous communities. The course includes demonstrations by traditional healers, herbalists, artisans, and other specialists who utilize plants. Students have the opportunity to gain research experience through fieldwork in the local communities, that will contribute to our long-term ethnobotanical research program. For more information, please visit the Tropical Conservation Consortium website at: www.tropicalcc.org/ethnobotany
