“Keep trying and you will keep finding”: social knowledge production regarding the use of medicinal plants in rural communities from Uruguay

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we analyze the process of social production of knowledge regarding the use of medicinal plants in three groups of rural women who gather and commercialize plants in the department of Canelones, Uruguay. This study is based on the hypothesis that the social labeling of these practices as exclusive to the domestic sphere has decontextualized and hidden the production of knowledge in such spaces, invisibilizing and not recognizing female contributions. We analyze four behavioral dynamics of this knowledge (conservation, erosion, innovation and transformation) in relation to the influence of the sex/gender system in the production and social valuation of this knowledge. Finally, given that these groups of women commercialize medicinal plants and products, we reflect on the transition of this knowledge into the commercial sphere, the consequences, possible changes and the effects on the social valuation of this knowledge.

RESUMO

Neste artigo, analisamos o processo de produção social do conhecimento sobre o uso de plantas medicinais em três grupos de mulheres rurais que coletam e comercializam plantas no departamento de Canelones, Uruguai. O estudo parte da hipótese de que a rotulação social dessas práticas como exclusivas da esfera doméstica descontextualizou e ocultou a produção de conhecimento nesses espaços, fazendo que as contribuições femininas fossem invisibilizadas e não reconhecidas. Analisamos quatro dinâmicas comportamentais desse conhecimento (conservação, erosão, inovação e transformação), em relação à influência do sistema sexo/gênero na produção e valorização social desse conhecimento. Por fim, tendo em vista que esses grupos de mulheres comercializam plantas e produtos medicinais, refletimos sobre a transição desse saber para a esfera comercial, suas consequências, as possíveis mudanças e os efeitos na valorização social desse saber.

RESUMEN

En este artículo analizamos el proceso de producción social de conocimiento sobre el uso de plantas medicinales en tres grupos de mujeres rurales que recolectan y venden plantas en el departamento de Canelones, Uruguay. El estudio parte de la hipótesis que al asociar estas prácticas al ámbito doméstico, se descontextualizó y ocultó la producción de saberes en estos espacios, invisibilizando y no reconociendo los aportes femeninos. Analizamos cuatro dinámicas de comportamiento de este conocimiento (conservación, erosión, innovación y transformación) en relación con la influencia del sistema sexo/género en la producción y valorización social de este conocimiento. Finalmente, considerando que estos grupos de mujeres venden plantas y productos medicinales, reflexionamos sobre la transición de este conocimiento a la esfera comercial, sus consecuencias, los posibles cambios y efectos en la valorización social de este conocimiento.

KEYWORDS:

• Medicinal plants
• social production of knowledge
• gender

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:

• Plantas medicinais
• produção social do conhecimento
• gênero

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Plantas medicinales
• producción social de conocimiento
• género

1. Introduction

The study of medicinal plants has been a widely discussed topic in anthropology and ethnobotany at a global level. Although these works began by focusing on lists of species and their properties, currently, other approaches are including new questions regarding power relations, gender aspects, and the dynamics of knowledge transmission (Howard 2003; Voeks 2007). In the Latin American context, this is the case of several works that address the production of knowledge about plants from a situated and gender approach (Palacios 2013; Alberti 2006; Saavedra 2015; Herrera 2016).

In Uruguay, the use of plants has had different meanings throughout history, including long periods of marginalization (Barrán 1992). For the majority of the twentieth century, their use was restricted; in those years, this popular knowledge was associated with the traditional or subaltern, as opposed to the cultured, modern and hegemonic. In recent years, the use of medicinal plants has increased. It is related to their accessibility and affordability, often being the only source of care for patients with lower resources or far from health centers (Queirós 2010). Currently, the use of plants is being incorporated as a common practice throughout society, reaching social spaces that had previously been unreachable, leading to the current coexistence of these practices and knowledge with scientific medicine in different ways, with varying degrees of tension (Tabakián 2016).

Therapeutic practice with medicinal plants has historically been linked to women, especially older women (Saavedra 2015; Palacios 2013; Ehrenreich and English 1973). In Uruguay, research by Romero (2005) has shown the importance of women in the field of health and plants, both in practice and in the conservation of knowledge about them. In relation to this, Hernández (2011) analyzed the women-plants-health link and identified that it was not only constituted by practices, but also by discourses that include interpretations of health, sexuality, and the body. Hernández (2011) found at least three possible explanations for these relations, which are not mutually exclusive. The first, based on the botanical aspect, is predicated on the idea of a special relationship between women and the plant kingdom. The other two explanations place emphasis on the medicinal aspect: on the one hand, the importance of phytotherapy in primary health care and the fact that women are often responsible for caregiving; on the other hand, the third explanation points out that many situations associated with women’s health are treated with traditional phytotherapy (menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, cycles, etc.).

In this study, we identify women’s and men’s knowledge not as innate but as built in a specific society and time. However, as a result of a sexual division of labor and patriarchal ideology, care-related activities have been associated with the domestic sphere and with women. The problem lies in the fact that by pigeonholing these practices in the domestic sphere, the production of knowledge in these spaces has been decontextualized and hidden, leading to the fact that women’s contributions have often been made invisible or have not received due recognition (Alberti 2006; Saavedra 2015; Palacios 2013).

Taking these approaches to the use of medicinal plants and health care, we observe that this knowledge is not valued or recognized as production of knowledge but as a simple reproduction, or it is associated with popular beliefs. On the contrary, in this study, we find that family care, domestic tasks such as cooking, sewing, application of home remedies, among others, are activities that involve a “know-how” that includes naming, classifying, experimenting, testing, developing work technologies, systematizing, and a whole set of activities that result in the production of knowledge (Palacios 2013). Such knowledge is not fixed but is modified according to ideological, social, political, and ecological transformations (Ingold 2000; Merchant 1989; De Certeau 1994).

With this research, we seek to contribute to studies on knowledge about medicinal plants, placing the gaze on everyday practices, those that have been pigeonholed in the private sphere, to problematize and value the production of knowledge in those spaces. Based on the above, this paper studies the production of knowledge regarding the use of medicinal plants by rural women in Uruguay, addressing four dynamics of behavior of this knowledge and practices: continuity, erosion, innovation, and transformation (Zent 2013; Gould 1986). Furthermore, we consider the processes of social valuation of this knowledge in relation to the influence of gender and some of the effects of the commercialization of herbs. The study accounts for the great variety of medicinal plants used by women for health care in a broad sense, explores the particularities that these behavioral dynamics acquire, and highlights the domestic space as important in the production of knowledge regarding the use of medicinal plants.

2. Knowledge-practice, medicinal plants, and gender

Different studies show that the use of medicinal plants is closely associated with activities within the domestic sphere, with caregiving tasks, and, especially, with women (Alberti 2006; Voeks 2007; Saavedra 2015; Herrera 2016). As we have mentioned in the introduction, in this paper, we discuss this assumption in the framework of gender relations. In this sense, Palacios (2013) states that the differentiation of assigned activities and spaces is a consequence of exploitation based on the sexual division of labor. Women were attributed to the space and domestic activities deemed as reproductive, and men to the public sphere considered as productive. The author points out that, based on biological functions such as reproduction, lactation, menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth, women are culturally granted more corporality and closer proximity to nature,¹ while men have been identified with mind and culture.

These assumptions lie in the fact that patriarchal ideologies have identified these domestic activities as part of the “natural qualities” of women. By means of a woman-body-nature connection, this sexual division of labor was justified, according to which “the home” and caregiving “naturally” corresponded to women, and therefore, this idea of “natural capabilities” that were supposedly innate or inherent to the female body.² Ortner (1979) stated that in many societies there is an idea of control over nature that sustains or reaffirms the notion of culture as superior to nature.³ Tardón (2011) added that there is a deeply rooted idea that whoever does things with the body is inferior. Women do things with the body: give birth, feed, and care for; however, the body, unlike the mind, is not conceived as a producer of knowledge.

These discussions warn that associating practices and knowledge with “natural qualities” implies conceiving them not as a product of an intellectual effort, but as an extension of nature. In this way, the production of such knowledge is decontextualized and made invisible. From the “commons paradigm” it is pointed out that, through a process of “domestication,” reproductive work came to be considered a “labor of love,” thus separating it from its concrete material manifestation (Mies 2019). Reproductive work was then idealized and naturalized, becoming invisible in the “modern productive” world.

In this work we study knowledge about medicinal plants by rethinking the domestic sphere as a space where knowledge is produced. Coming from the standpoint of practice-oriented knowledge (Ingold 2000), we understand that knowledge is not something that is only stored and transmitted orally among individuals, but that it is “made” and transmitted by doing (Marchand 2010). This concept of knowledge breaks with the idea of static knowledge that is transmitted, in order to focus on its implementation and the central place of its bearers in its exercise and production. At this point, we incorporate the idea of practices of everyday life as a process of knowing by practicing during daily life (De Certeau 1994). In our case, the knowledge of each group is embedded in daily practices. It is in constant transformation since it appropriates external elements and social dynamics, and, as everyday life, it is part of people’s bodies, biographies, and lives.

One of the significant concerns of this research was to analyze the process of social production and transmission of knowledge about medicinal plants of these rural women. We consider that the knowledge and practices about medicinal plants are not static but change over time according to social, economic, educational, environmental, and other factors. However, the fact that they are constantly changing does not mean that they do not follow certain patterns or dynamics. To understand how this knowledge is acquired, transformed, transmitted, and lost, we incorporated some categories proposed by Zent (2013) and Gould (1986): continuity, erosion, innovation and transformation. These categories were helpful in grouping and analyzing knowledge about medicinal plants, highlighting the environmental and social aspects of knowledge production and transmission.

This set of theoretical tools, understood as starting points, will be useful to approach women’s medicinal knowledge production from a perspective that pays attention to the situational/contextual aspects (Haraway 1998; Gebara 2000), experience and its implementation in everyday life (De Certeau 1994; Ingold 2000). Also, the tools will be useful to to analyze how this knowledge (and the ways of transmitting, learning, producing) changes over time as well as the different factors that are involved in these processes.

3. Materials and methods

This work was framed on a qualitative approach. The fieldwork was carried out between 2019 and 2020 in the towns of Tapia, Migues, and San Jacinto in the department of Canelones (Uruguay)⁴ with women knowledgeable about medicinal plants who are (or have been) linked to their commercialization. The fieldwork began with an exploratory stage in which we conducted interviews with qualified informants related to health, rural women, and medicinal plants (family doctors, agronomists, researchers, herbalists). These interviews allowed us to delve into the subject, identifying antecedents while delimiting the field of study.

Given the objective of delving deeper into the perceptions and experiences of women, we resorted to the triangulation of techniques, developing in parallel in-depth interviews and participant observation. During the conversations, we sought to investigate their knowledge about plants, but above all, their life stories, their link with the different types of medicine, perceptions, and assessments about the use of herbs, memories, and experiences. In keeping with the flexible nature of the qualitative work, we incorporated aspects that came up in previous interviews, in order to process and verbally express the different visions of the women.

Participant observation was mainly carried out in spaces where practices with plants take place (production, drying, preparation of medicines, etc.). During the meetings, we also toured their properties and gardens, which allowed us to identify plants, spatial organization logics, and production techniques; but, more importantly, they also allowed us to unearth conversations, anecdotes, and affective memories about plants, nature and their environment.

Finally, it is important to point out that neither the observation nor the interviews had a fixed space and time but were generally framed in afternoon talks and, in some cases, occurred as we accompanied the women in household and garden tasks. The women who participated in the research, most of them rural, make a living from vegetable production and raising animals for sale like pigs, calves or beef cattle on small farms in Canelones (family production).

These women are also members of three groups that sell herbs and medicinal products: Las Julianas, Mujeres Yuyeras (Women of the Herbs), and Flores Silvestres (Wildflowers). Although individual interviews were conducted with each of them, the history of the groups they belong to increased our understanding of their experiences, processes and reflections. Such women’s groups are key organizations in their life trajectories and their formation has had an influence on various aspects of their lives: their personal economies and the possibility of self-management, group work and encounters, knowledge and know-how management, and the strengthening of autonomy processes, among others. The choice of these groups was based on the possibility of reaching them, while seeking to cover a diversity of trajectories (some were recently formed, as in the case of Flores Silvestres, and others have been in existence for more than twenty years, such as Mujeres Yuyeras).

The Flores Silvestres group arose as an initiative of women in the town of San Jacinto (Canelones) to build a market to sell a variety of products: food, preserves and jams, fruits and vegetables, handicrafts, and, as far as this study is concerned, medicinal plants and preparations. Furthermore, the group Mujeres Yuyeras is quite informal in its membership, since it is made up of women who are knowledgeable about plants and who have been involved in various areas of work with herbs. The fact that this group is made up of several women members of the Calmañana cooperative⁵ is of particular importance. Finally, Las Julianas is the most homogeneous group and is composed of rural women from the area of Tapia (Canelones) who are dedicated to the gathering and sale of medicinal plants; currently, they are also developing some projects for the cultivation of herbs.

4. Results

4.1. Between continuity and change: the process of producing knowledge about medicinal plants

The women we interviewed acknowledged the frequent use of plants for personal and family care, with particular development and implementation in instances of maternity and care. This use was mainly associated with the search for a solution to immediate problems and the ease of having the “remedy” in the garden/orchard. During the interviews, more than 150 plants⁶ were named and various uses were assigned to them: health and environmental care, gastronomical, symbolic, among others. Various forms of application and consumption were also identified, the most frequent of which was the infusion of herbs to make flavored water or herbal teas.

All the women point out that living in rural areas is a crucial aspect of their lives because it allows them proximity to plants. Most of these women lived their childhoods around the fifties, when the reality of the Uruguayan countryside, even in Canelones (a rural district), was very different from today. They recalled that at that time, plant medicine was frequently used for health care and treatment of illnesses, both in their family and community environments. Mostly, they associated this early bond with female figures such as mothers, grandmothers, and aunts.

The use of medicinal plants was part of everyday life, not as a choice for health care, but instead as the only way to improve everyday conditions such as the flu, colds, indigestion, and women's cycles, among others. This daily life made these women interested and linked early with plants incorporating them into their daily practices. However, not all women used plants throughout their life. Some continued to use them forever, and others moved away and reconnected with plants years later. In other words, although they were in contact with medicinal plants during childhood and youth, later, for different reasons, they gradually abandoned them. In this sense, most of them mention the existence of a generational break in transmitting this knowledge.

As we already argue, we consider that the knowledge and practices about medicinal plants are constantly changing. Returning to the contributions of Zent (2013) and Gould (1986), we identify four behavioral dynamics of this knowledge (continuity, erosion, innovation, and transformation).

Continuity: We understood continuity as the development of a slow accumulation of information gained by experience and long-term residence in a given place. This behavior is closely associated with intergenerational transmission (Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981). In the conversations, this continuity/conservation phenomenon was strongly connected to the medicinal uses and applications of plants and how to grow them or where to find (gather) them. The women identified that much of this knowledge was transmitted from generation to generation, orally and especially through guided imitation (Ingold 2000) and practice as key mechanisms. This knowledge was also associated with the uses in their grandmothers’ times or with the fact of learning together with an older figure.

As an example, the following fragment refers to a story of one of the women who told us that what she learned comes from “far back in time,” referring especially to her childhood:

It’s like wisdom coming from beyond. (…) it is related to the moment in which we see ourselves in the same situation, whether we recall our traditions or because we heard it, or we know it, we pass it on to other people and, well, as we always say, nothing is lost by trying. (…) In children, we have known for all of our lives; we were raised with expressions like “Nothing is better for children with stomach aches than chamomile.” Those are the traditions that remain; and, for all we know, they work. Many things are inherited from the way in which each person was raised, from the environment they were raised in. (Las Julianas)

Erosion: It is important to understand that this idea of continuity will also imply a change, an adaptation (Zent 2013). Although certain knowledge is transmitted, for example, from generation to generation (as we can see in the previous excerpt), when it is put into practice, it can be modified or redefined (Ingold 2000). At this point, the social and environmental factors of the context in which the knowledge is situated will also be very influential. This leads us to analyze the other behavioral pattern/dynamic that refers to the erosion of knowledge.

According to Ellen and Harris (2000), given the close connection and integration of this type of knowledge with the cultural sphere and the environment, it can be expected that contextual aspects imply tendencies to change or loss. Zent (2013) chooses to speak of erosion and identifies a set of social and ecological variables that influence these processes: changes in population and life dynamics, language changes, advances in formal education processes, transition to the market economy, occupational changes, new technologies, habitat degradation, availability of Western medicines or health clinics, religious beliefs, change of values, among others. In our case, we identify at least four variables that can be associated with these processes of erosion that appeared frequently in the conversations with the interviewees: (a) expansion of biomedicine; (b) social and cultural changes; (c) environmental degradation; and (d) introduction of this knowledge into the market economy.

The interviewees warned about changes in the territory of Canelones, where processes of agriculturalization and modes of production associated with the intensive use of pesticides have led to the loss of many species. As an example, one of the interviewees commented:

In Canelones, our native forests have been razed. Before sugar beets, everything was orchards. Before then, when the colonizers came, and started planting, the native forest was razed. There is not much left. There is some tala (Celtis tala) and molle (Schinus molle) left, some cina-cina (Parkinsonia aculeata), but not even close to the amount of plants that can be found outside. (Mujeres Yuyeras)

In the process of erosion associated with environmental degradation, we clearly see the importance of the contextual knowledge mentioned by Gebara (2000), which refers to the fact that the environment determines the ways of knowing and the knowledge itself. If the environment changes, it is likely that this associated knowledge will also change. In this sense, the women tended to point out that some plants were no longer easily found, plants that were previously easy to gather in the event of any health-related incident. In relation to the sighting of certain plants, one member of “Las Julianas” warned:

There are less plants because everyone is spraying glyphosate to plant, so the grass won’t grow. Then, of course, we can’t find malva (Malva sylvestris) anywhere. Before, it was very unusual not to find any malva or nettle (Urtica dioica) in any fertilized land. They were plentiful in all houses. Now, it is impossible to find nettle. It kills everything. Because they spray it every year to plant corn or sorghum, everything has been dying. (Las Julianas)

In relation to the expansion of biomedicine (related to social and cultural changes), as we already mentioned, we observed that most of the women noticed the existence of a generational break in the transmission of knowledge where, for example, their mothers tended to use fewer plants than their grandmothers. The women referred to social and historical changes as an explanation for this distancing, which we associate with the processes of medicalization in terms of which certain topics related to folk medicine were no longer discussed (Barrán 1992). In this context, the use of medicinal plants declined sharply, and scientific medicine grew and began to occupy more and more spaces in the lives of these people.

Related to generational ruptures, it is interesting to introduce the idea of “patriarchal mediation” as another factor that can help to understand the breaks in the transmission of knowledge, influencing the continuity, or not, of certain practices with medicinal plants. Gutiérrez, Sosa, and Reyes (2018) point out that this is an expression with dual meanings: on the one hand, it serves to name the female experience – and of feminized bodies – of blockage (impediment, denial, ignorance, deformation, rupture) of relations between women in colonial capitalism. On the other hand, it is, at the same time, a material and symbolic fact of fixing such separation of women among themselves, between them and their creations. Federici (2010) associates patriarchal mediation with the self-devaluation of each one’s creation and, consequently, the devaluation of oneself and of relationships with other women. Such devaluation is also linked to the devaluation of the domestic space.

In our case, for example, the expansion of biomedicine was related by the interviewees to the loss of autonomy in decisions about their health in the face of the physician's figure. The interviews also revealed references to a weakening of the links and visits between neighbors (women) in the area, which led to a loss of the oral transmission and exchange of certain knowledge. Patriarchal mediation also appeared in a certain lack of recognition given to this knowledge (valuation of each one’s creation); this aspect will be discussed in more detail in the next section. We believe it is vital to highlight this idea of patriarchal mediation that crosses the links between women and knowledge transmission to understand some aspects of knowledge erosion about medicinal plants.

Innovation: The pattern of innovation constitutes an important source of variation and can lead to significant changes in the system of practices and knowledge. In the context of this work, it is relevant to dwell on this aspect, as it will provide key elements to reflect on certain characteristics and changes in knowledge, practices, and also the effects associated with the transition to the commercial field. Following Zent’s analysis, we define two forms of innovation: endogenous and exogenous.

The first is when innovation arises from the women themselves, from their practice and experience. For example: testing combinations of plants to increase biodiversity, adapting varieties of native or bush plants on their farms, or developing mechanisms to avoid the use of chemicals; also, in testing different combinations in medicinal preparations and new ways of using plants.

Exogenous innovation is mainly associated with harvesting and drying processes linked to the transition from domestic use of plants to a commercial/productive destination. In this transition, different groups had to develop and incorporate drying techniques adapted to the quality and quantity criteria demanded by the market and consumers (drying sheds, machines to cut the herbs, hygiene criteria, techniques to dry in greater quantities, care of the aesthetics of the plants for sale, etc.). The particularity of these innovation processes is that the incorporation of new techniques, tools, and knowledge associated to technical assistance often appears within the framework of projects financed by organizations or the state. In any case, it should not be forgotten that this transmission of knowledge is also adapted and put into practice on the basis of the women’s experience in the process of appropriation of innovations.

As an example, the members of the Mujeres Yuyeras, in the framework of the work in Calmañana, introduced a great variety of aromatic herbs that they did not use before and that are not part of their heritage of everyday plants (such as tarragon, cilantro, chives, among others). In relation to medicinal species, the production of the cooperative Calmañana arises from connecting with the Botica del Señor⁷ company, which was interested in their accumulated knowledge regarding the production of aromatic plants and, therefore, proposed planting for the company. A common mechanism among the different groups is the agreement by which the company provides seeds, training and technical assistance, leaving the care and subsequent drying to the group. This gradually led to the incorporation of some species (for example, willowherbs) into their heritage, but also brought challenges regarding the patents of these seeds. Likewise, in this process, women find new uses for new plants and adapt them to their health practices. Furthermore, this commercial link allowed them to update their knowledge by incorporating new medical uses for plants that they already handled.

Referring to these processes, a member of Mujeres Yuyeras recalled:

Before, we used to dry the plants in sheds. Later, because of a project we took part in, a solar dryer was made. It didn’t work out because we had to get all together in a house and watch over the plants; we didn’t have any knowledge, it was extremely demanding. Today, the dryers from the women in Calmañana are everywhere; everyone is drying plants. The first ones to make dryers were us. And we had to burn a lot of herbs. (Mujeres Yuyeras)

Transformation: We understood that the three patterns of behavior presented so far account for what Zent (2013, 189) calls “continuity in change, change in continuity” and we associate it with the fourth pattern: transformation. Women’s knowledge cannot be described simply as erosion versus conservation, since we saw that there is a conjunction of multiple processes: there is knowledge that is passed from generation to generation, there is another knowledge being lost and another that is being incorporated or updated. In other words, there is always a degree of continuity and a degree of change within the framework of social and environmental systems that are also in continuous change.

These processes are influenced by different factors: changes in the environment (especially through the availability or non-availability of plants), social and cultural dynamics (such as the valuation of popular knowledge, the processes of medicalization or the depopulation of the countryside), as well as changes associated with the introduction of dimensions such as commercialization and production for the market, among others. These ideas highlight the adaptive nature of this knowledge, where the notion of transformation implies, on the one hand, changes in the body of knowledge (and also in the environment on which it depends); and, on the other, a continuity with what came before.

In these processes, women’s experience and implementation are fundamental. This is why we choose to speak of knowing/doing (De Certeau 1994). Experience and “putting into practice” make it possible to “ground” the information transmitted or acquired in concrete experiences and needs. In this way, women are appropriating, modifying, updating and embodying the different knowledge about plants, being key agents in the production of knowledge. In other words, this knowledge is reconfigured from experience and practice, from the know-how of each woman and her life. To close this section, it is interesting to take up again the words of one of the interviewees who, reflecting on the process of acquiring knowledge, said:

As a person that has walked among plants her whole life; we know that there is always a herb for every illness. The problem is that we may not know which one it is. […] and there’s a wide variety of plants on the road. If you go into the native forest, there are some plants there that have the same properties as these ones, but they are elsewhere. That is why sometimes it’s about taking the knowledge from where you are, what plants and herbs you can take and for which part of the body. It is a lot to learn and we are always learning; as we grow old, we never stop learning. (Mujeres Yuyeras)

In this passage of conversation, we can observe how the interviewee gives an account of this idea of situated and contextual knowledge (Haraway 1998; Harding 1987; Gebara 2000) that we have been using in relation to the way in which the experience of the carriers as well as environmental factors and the territory they inhabit configure continuity through the change of this accumulation of knowledge.

4.2. Social valuation of knowledge and the transition to the market

Throughout the study, we confirmed the importance of this knowledge and practices that are strongly associated with the domestic sphere and also with female figures. However, it was possible to observe some processes that could be associated with the devaluing and marginalization of this knowledge despite its preponderance in the domestic sphere. When they heard phrases such as “again with those weeds, mom,” they felt that, also at this family level, their knowledge was not positively valued. However, in complicated or borderline health situations, or also in instances of maternity and care, women are consulted and respected by family members.

In this regard, Obach and Sadler (2008) point out that, although the advance of scientific medicine marginalized certain forms of healing and for many years disassociated women from formal medicine, women’s knowledge of health did not disappear but continued to manifest itself through informal or marginal spaces. At this point, it is also important to distinguish that there are different types of feminine connections with health. In the case of traditional medicine, Obach and Sadler (2008) identify, on the one hand, “informal knowledge developed in the home”; and on the other, formal knowledge but outside allopathic medicine, i.e. health specialists, who professionalized their work and extended their knowledge, becoming alternative therapists, yuyeras, healers, herbalists, etc.

In our case, this distinction may be useful. The women participating in the research undoubtedly come from a past where traditional medicine was/is present in the family sphere (informal space), and at the same time, they have been establishing themselves as yuyeras and herb producers (marginal formal), that is to say, they have been passing from the first to the second type of link identified by Obach and Sadler (2008). This led us to focus our attention on this transition from the domestic to the public sphere, and the different effects on this knowledge and on the women themselves.

Drawing from Saavedra (2015) we call this transition from the domestic to the commercial sphere “bridging space,” in the sense that women in the groups begin to engage in the sale and marketing (activity in the public space) of medicinal plants and remedies associated with practices and knowledge that have been developed mostly in the domestic space. As we saw in the previous section, this transition will have effects on the types of plants used, as well as on the body of knowledge and practices. At this point, we want to focus on the changes in the valuation of this knowledge.

From an analytical perspective that incorporates concerns for social justice, redistribution, and recognition (Fraser and Honneth 2006), we find, as some of the effects of this transition, the fact that these practices and knowledge began to be valued economically. This will also imply a change in the recognition of this task, as it now begins to be perceived as “productive” since it can be translated into monetary terms.

In addition to the economic factor, another phenomenon to be considered is visibility. The visibility of the activity is not a minor issue and is closely related to the social recognition of the work. Bringing this knowledge and practices to the “outside” has repercussions on visibility, protagonism, and self-confidence while contributing to the resignification of these activities; it also contributes to the understanding of the domestic space as productive, both at the level of tasks and associated knowledge.

For example, one of the members of Las Julianas referred to themselves as “Silent Warriors” to explain how they have been working with medicinal plants for years and yet are not known or recognized. The expression is a vindication of its task, of the strength and importance that it implies. Referring to this recognition process, another member of the Julianas told us:

A year ago, when we went to Tapia, each of us went with what we work with. X went with her machete, for example. Women there didn’t know what we do. There are people near to us who know, but other people don’t. They ask “What do they do?” “I believe they gather plants” but no more, you see. They don’t know how we work, how we sell, how we dry; they just don’t. Now we have more recognition, but still … We have a webpage where we show what we do and when we gather. All for people to see and know. (Las Julianas)

Finally, we speak of a bridging space to refer to this transition from the domestic world to the public/commercial world. It is also relevant to note the fact that this “bridging space” is also a bridge “between women.” Several feminist authors choose this term to refer to the practice of the relationship between women that, in its permanence, builds symbolic order. According to Muraro (1994, 8)

through the practice of the relationship between women, patriarchal mediation [a phenomenon mentioned in previous chapters] is challenged, eluded and subverted, since among ourselves we create our own language to mediate with the world. The “among women,” as it breaks a pillar of the amalgam of expropriation-exploitation-domination and erodes the patriarchal mediation historically constructed as a condition of women’s separation from each other, collaborates in the knowledge of self and becomes a source of strength.

In our work, we found that women’s groups exceed the commercial purpose in order to become meeting spaces. The participants of this research, while passing through this “bridge space among women,” have been (re)building connections among themselves, have recovered collective memories about health and care, and have also recovered or reconnected with that marginalized knowledge. The recovery of these links can also be associated with the reconstruction of a community fabric, such as the recovery of visits between neighbors or common activities or tasks. We could point out that this bridging space is reinforced in its characteristic of “among women” and this has effects at the individual level of each one of them, but also extends to the community level with great weight in the valuation of knowledge and practices, and to the role of the women themselves in these processes. In other words, they have been struggling to rebuild the links “among women,” challenging and eroding the process of patriarchal mediation.

5. Conclusions

In these brief conclusions, we want to reflect on the processes of knowledge production and the singular characteristics of such processes, especially from a perspective that takes into account the influence of the sex/gender system. In the first place, it is important to point out that, when in this paper we speak of know-how as a key factor to understand the production/learning processes, we have assumed that such knowledge has been particularized, insofar as it arises from putting it into practice and from embodied experiences.

In our case, this know-how was associated with the domestic sphere and the care practices developed mostly by women. But it was also important to point out that this knowledge is not a “natural quality” but is constructed within a specific society and time. Approaching these aspects from a gender and feminist perspective allowed us to problematize the process of invisibilization of certain tasks and jobs that fall on women and the depoliticization of the associated knowledge by labeling it as exclusive to the private sphere. At the same time, we found that thinking from this know-how implies that such knowledge can no longer be thought of as mere reproduction of practices, but rather as the fruit of women’s own production through their constant adaptation and implementation. In other words, the basis of this study reinforces the idea of thinking of the domestic space not as a place of monotonous and repetitive work, but as a place where cognitive processes of creation, modification, and adaptation of knowledge and practices actually take place.

Another key factor in relation to the production of knowledge was to understand the effects of the transition of practices and knowledge associated with the domestic sphere to the commercial sphere. In recent years, these groups of women have gained social recognition, which has had a positive impact on the appreciation of their work and is beginning to reverse years of invisibility and marginalization. In this context, the deployment of this knowledge in the public space through the commercialization of herbs plays a very important role.

The above reinforces the line of argument established since the beginning of the research (Gebara 2000; Segato 2016; Saavedra 2015; Palacios 2013; among others), which points to the need to understand this domestic space as a complete space, with its own politics. That is, nothing more and nothing less than the need to recognize and value these spaces with their own inner workings and knowledge production. At this point, it is important to note that this paper did not seek to romanticize or “essentialize” tasks, nor to perpetuate patriarchal views that foster inequalities based on stereotyped gender roles; the great challenge consisted, precisely, in thinking about and problematizing this knowledge and practices from a critical viewpoint, seeking to highlight their importance and value.

Finally, it is necessary to point out that, although women have made progress in the recognition and valuation of their work with their entry into the commercial sphere, they still face great challenges in terms of the economic valuation of their work, especially when it comes to selling their products, setting prices, and negotiating in the commercial sphere.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the women protagonists of this work who opened the doors of their homes, properties, and memories to us. Also, I express my gratitude to the Universidad de la República, whose different support mechanisms have allowed us to carry out this project with the dedication it deserves.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valentina Pereyra Ceretta

Valentina Pereyra Ceretta is a sociologist, working in the Sociology Department of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Universidad de la Republica) in the areas of environment, rurality, human-animal relations and conservation.

Juan Martin Dabezies

Juan Martin Dabezies is an anthropologist, professor at the University of the Republic and researcher of the National System of Researchers, Uruguay. He is currently working on the issue of sport / recreational hunting in western societies, linked to nature conservation and biosecurity.

Notes

1 It is worth clarifying that, although these are processes associated with women’s health, not all women go through them.

2 According to Llanes (2001) the body is originated, shaped, and traversed by a network of discourses and social, cultural, economic, political representations, and is a reference of identity. Williams (2002) argues that, as a referent of identity, the body is gendered and that the anatomical differences between men and women are the central axis of the social order of gender, the notion of the body being essential in the construction of the meanings of masculinity and femininity.

3 The nature/culture opposition as an epistemological proposal, although widespread, especially in Western societies, is not universal. This discussion can be resumed in Ortner (1979).

4 Canelones is located in the south of Uruguay and borders Montevideo (the capital of Uruguay). The area is characterized by the predominance of horticulture, fruit growing, and wine production.

5 The origin of the Calmañana cooperative dates back to the 1980s, when after a long process of grouping, reflection and consolidation, a group of women developed a project to grow aromatic herbs, some of which were unknown in the market at the time. Currently, the cooperative produces about forty varieties of aromatic herbs, packing them both fresh and dried. It also produces medicinal herbs and in recent years has extended its production to other more traditional crops, such as tomatoes and wheat. The crops are all grown organically and sales are focused on the domestic market, the main marketing channel being the large supermarket chains in Montevideo.

6 To learn more about the plants and their identified uses, see: Pereyra (2021).

7 Botica del Señor S.R.L is a company dedicated to the commercialization of medicinal herbs, phytomedicines, lotions, cosmetics, and nutritional supplements, complying with all the requirements applicable to the activity.