THIS README FILE PROVIDES DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION ON:

Filename: 20150220_Plants.xls
Study Name: Sustainable resettlement and environmental conservation
Depositor: Laura Jeffery
Date of data collection: Various, 2011-2014 
Document ID: D01
Author: Laura Jeffery

Description of data: Database of the ethnobotanical knowledge of Chagossian community members, cross-checked and supplemented with data from botanical literature.  The database contains only plants identified by Chagossian interviewees. It is necessarily based on a limited number of primary and secondary sources and therefore should not be regarded as exhaustive. Data relating to Chagossian botanical knowledge and plant use was collected through ethnographic fieldwork in the UK and Mauritius, conducted by Dr Laura Jeffery and Dr Rebecca Rotter during the period 2011-2014. Dr Jeffery and Dr Rotter visited Chagossians’ kitchen gardens, went food shopping with them, prepared and ate food together, and received treatment for minor ailments by community healers deploying traditional remedies. As part of a specific focus on plants, they conducted face-to-face qualitative interviews with native-born Chagossians and their children and grandchildren, asking about the use of edible and medicinal plants in Chagos, Mauritius, Seychelles, and the UK, including recollections of environmental changes and changing practices. Interviews were conducted in Chagossian Kreol, Mauritian Kreol, Seychellois Kreol and English. Interviews were recorded via detailed note-taking. Kreol botanical names used by interviewees have been retained, but all other data have been translated into English. Each Chagossian interviewee identified several dozen plants that they either used themselves or knew that other people had used as a raw material in a wide range of domestic and economic activities: as medicine, food, fuel, and animal feed; to make tools and handicrafts; and to build houses and boats.

The botanical literature referred to, and the shorthand used to denote each publication, is as follows:
Gurib-Fakim Aromatic: Gurib-Fakim, A. & T. Brendler. 2004. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Indian Ocean Islands. Medpharm Scientific Publications.
Gurib-Fakim Medicinal: Gurib-Fakim, A. 2007. Medicinal Plants of Mauritius and of the World. Baie du Tombeau: Graphic Pres, 
Gurib-Fakim Flora: Gurib-Fakim, A. 2009. An Illustrated Guide to the Flora of Mauritius and the Indian Ocean Islands. Reduit: University of Mauritius.
Louwe: Louwe, H. 1987. Traditional mother and child care in rural Mauritius. Pp.69-117 in A. Kuper & A. Kouwenhoven (eds) Contributions to Mauritian Ethnography. Leiden: Leiden University Press.
Sussman: Sussman, L. 1980. Herbal medicine on Mauritius. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:259-278.

Each row specifies a single plant.
Column A specifies each plant's Latin name, identified through the botanical literature
Column B specifies each plant's name/s in the English language, identified through interview data and the botanical literature.
Column C specifies each plant's name/s in the French language, identified through interview data and the botanical literature.
Column D specifies each plant's name/s in the Chagossian/Mauritian/Seychellois Kreol languages, identified through interview data and the botanical literature.
Column E specifies the geographical incidence of each plant, as identified through interview data and the botanical literature.
Column F specifies each plant's indications, identified through interview data.
Column G specifies each plant's contra-indications, identified through interview data.
Column H specifies medicinal preparations Chagossians have employed for each plant, identified through interview data. 
Column I specifies each plant's indications, identified through Gurib-Fakim publications.
Column J specifies each plant's contra-indications, identified through Gurib-Fakim publications.
Column K specifies medicinal preparations known to have been employed for each plant (by any group), identified through Gurib-Fakim publications.
Column L specifies the source of data on each plant where Gurib-Fakim publications have been used.
Column M specifies the source of data on each plant where other publications (Louwe and Sussman) have been used.
N/A indicates that no reference was made by interviewees or in the literature to the item in question.
An empty cell indicates that the author did not locate any data for the item in question.

Usage request: Individuals who download, cite or in any other way use this file are kindly requested to inform the depositor, Dr Laura Jeffery, by sending a brief email to: laura.jeffery@ed.ac.uk