Cultural vs. State Borders : Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran
Sulaiman, Naji (Università di Scienze Gastronomiche)
Salehi, Farzad (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica)
Prakofjewa, Julia (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica)
Cavalleri, Sofia Anna Enrica (RISTOLAB S.R.L.)
Ahmed, Hiwa M. (Sulaimani Polytechnic University. Bakrajo Technical Institute)
Mattalia, Giulia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Rastegar, Azad (Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center. HKS Herbarium)
Maghsudi, Manijeh (Tehran University. Department of Anthropology)
Amin, Hawraz Ibrahim M. (Università di Pavia. Dipartimento di Chimica)
Rasti, Ahmad (Università degli Studi di Milano. Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali)
Hosseini, Seyed Hamzeh (University of Jiroft. Department of Biology)
Ghorbani, Abdolbaset (University of Umea. Lärarhögskolan)
Pieroni, Andrea (Università di Scienze Gastronomiche)
Sõukand, Renata (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Plant foraging is a millennia-old activity still practiced by many people in the Middle East, particularly in the Fertile Crescent region, where several socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural factors shape this practice. This study seeks to understand the drivers of plant foraging in this complex region characterized by highly diverse linguistic, religious, and cultural groups. Our study aims to document the wild plants used by Kurds in Western Iran, identify similarities and differences among Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurdish groups in Iran, and compare our findings with a previous study on the Hawramani in Iraq. Forty-three semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in Kurdish villages of Western Iran. The results revealed the use of 44 wild food plant taxa, their preparation, and culinary uses. Among the reported taxa, 28 plant taxa were used by Mukriyani, and 33 by Hawramani. The study revealed a significant difference between the Hawraman and Mukriyan regions in Iran, whereas there is a high similarity between Hawramani Kurds in Iran and Iraq. We found that the invisible cultural border carries more weight than political divisions, and this calls for a paradigm shift in how we perceive and map the distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge.
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Ethnobotany ; Fertile Crescent ; Iran ; Iraq ; Middle East ; Persian ; Wild food plants ; SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Published in:	Plants, Vol. 13, Issue 7 (April 2024) , art. 1048, ISSN 2223-7747

DOI: 10.3390/plants13071048
PMID: 38611576

15 p, 2.1 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles