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Abstract Detail


Historical Section

Touwaide, Alain [1].

ry and Economic Botany: Some Methodological Reflections.

In recent years, history has been increasingly present in economic botany inquiries. Economic-botanists collect data from historical documents (from pre-printed books [manuscripts] to early printed books) as a basis for their investigations. In this way, the range of primary sources for the economic botany inquiries is considerably expanded, also making it possible to compare current practice (often known by oral transmission) and the written record of ancient uses (often resulting from a century-long tradition). Though perfectly founded and legitimate, such use of ancient documents as sources is not always sound from the historical method viewpoint. The paper aims to present some methodological reflections based on case studies taken from the historical documentation. The purpose is to generate a border-crossing dialogue between the many disciplines that contribute to economic botany research.

Broader Impacts:


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1 - Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, Research, PO Box 7606, Washington, DC, 20044, USA

Keywords:
History
research methods
Primary sources
Written record of ancient practice
Manuscripts
Early printed books
comparative methods.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 20
Location: Waterman Room/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM
Number: 20002
Abstract ID:604


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