Secwepemc People and Plants: Research Papers in Shuswap Ethnobotany (Contributions in Ethnobiology)

The Secwepemc (Shuswap) people of the Plateau of northwestern North America developed and practice(d) intricate relationships with plants that reflect the biodiversity of their environment and thousands of years of experience of living in Secwepemculecw, their homeland. This collection of essays derives from more than twenty years of collaborative research on ethnobotany and ethnoecology with Secwepemc plant specialists and elders. It begins with an in-depth introduction to botanical and indigenous perspectives on Secwepemc plants, environment and landscape, and then goes on to address such diverse topics as archaeobotany, plant resource management and stewardship, edible root vegetables and edible lichen harvesting and processing, the role of cultural knowledge in understanding Secwepemc medicines, and the nutritional qualities of edible plants. Additional chapters in this volume speak to the fascinating ways in which plant and environmental knowledge is articulated in oral narratives, and how Secwepemc Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom is constituted. In light of the escalating nature of environmental degradation in Secwepemculecw, the volume addresses the crucial relevance, now and in the future, of Secwepemc TEKW and environmental stewardship.