A groundbreaking study by ethnobotanist Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó Hãhãhãi has revived the ancestral healing knowledge of his indigenous people. Currently a doctoral student at the Institute of Environmental, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Federal University of São Paulo (ICAQF-UNIFESP) in Brazil, he belongs to the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãi people. According to his doctoral advisor, Eliana Rodrigues he is "the world's first indigenous ethnobotanical researcher."
An article reporting on the study, signed by Pataxó Hãhãhãi and Rodrigues, was published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. "This work was done by us and for us. It recovers knowledge that was being lost and shows that we can do science without giving up who we are," the researcher celebrates.
The study sought to meet the demands of the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãi people themselves in the face of the progressive disappearance of ancestral knowledge. Initially, the focus was on finding treatments for the three most common complaints in the community: parasitic worms, diabetes, and hypertension. These diseases had been caused or aggravated by the fragmentation and dispersion of the people, deteriorating living conditions, and contact with the surrounding society.
However, based on the initial objective and within the parameters of academic research, the scientist broadened the scope of his study, cataloguing 175 medicinal plants used by the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãi. Forty-three of these plants were used specifically to treat the three diseases that inspired the investigation, and 79% of their uses are consistent with recent scientific literature.
"One of the discoveries that most caught my attention was that the main medicinal plants used are exotic species, not native, but introduced into the territory. This attests to the fact that the fragmentation and forced displacement of the original population were accompanied by extreme environmental devastation, with land grabbing and the establishment of large farms," says Pataxó Hãhãhãi.
Among the most commonly used plants are mastruz (Dysphania ambrosioides) for intestinal worms, moringa (Moringa oleifera) for diabetes, and lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) for hypertension. Two of the three, lemongrass and moringa, are exotic and originated in Asia. They were introduced to Brazil during the colonial period or more recently. Many botanists believe that mastruz already existed in tropical areas of South America before the arrival of colonizers and that indigenous peoples have used it for centuries. Another plant considered native that is also used to treat intestinal worms is purgative potato (Operculina macrocarpa). "But so far, I've only been able to find a few native species. Many plants mentioned by the elders have disappeared from the forest," laments Pataxó Hãhãhãi.
Historical context
The Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãi Indigenous Land, also known as the Caramuru-Paraguassu Indigenous Land, is located in the south of the state of Bahia and has an official area of 54,105 hectares. The region was officially reserved for indigenous peoples in 1926 by the then Indian Protection Service (SPI). However, starting in the 1940s, with the expansion of cocoa cultivation, farmers invaded the area, resulting in the expulsion of a large part of the original indigenous population. In the 1970s, the Bahia government abolished the reserve and granted property titles to the invaders.
In 1982, the then National Indian Foundation ( FUNAI , renamed the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples in 2023) filed a lawsuit to annul the titles granted to farmers. After years of litigation, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) ruled in favor of the indigenous people in 2012, recognizing their traditional ownership of the land and ordering the removal of non-indigenous people. Despite the STF's decision, conflicts persist. In 2024, an indigenous woman from the region was murdered during a land retaking. In April of this year, the National Public Security Force was sent to the area to ensure the community's safety amid new threats.
"In this context, the environment changed and much of the culture was lost. The traditional language, belonging to the Macro-Jê language family, became extinct in 1992 with the death of Bahetá, the last speaker. Before she died, she collaborated with researchers in the preparation of a primer, called Cartilha Bahetá, with dozens of words and a few phrases," says Pataxó Hãhãhãi. "We discovered that many of these words are exactly the same as those of the Maxakali, who live in northeastern Minas Gerais [a state bordering southern Bahia]. In the past, the people here used to meet with the Maxakali. There were trails that crossed the forest between Bahia and Minas Gerais," says the researcher.
The ancient rituals of pajelança were also forgotten with forced displacement and the imposition of religions. Today, the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãi people are no longer made up of a single ethnic group, but rather a mixture of several groups that came together in the region after the territory was retaken. Spread across ten villages, the indigenous land is home to about 3,600 individuals belonging to the Baenã, Kamakã, Tupinambá, Kariri-Sapuyá, and Gueren ethnic groups.
"During my research, one of the things that struck me most was the extent of the loss: of plants, practices, entire cultural aspects. Despite all these losses, some elders still remember what they learned from their parents or grandparents. And it was these elders that I sought out to recover ancestral knowledge. Many are evangelicals. Evangelical indigenous people still use plants, but the traditional prayers used in healing rituals have been replaced by Christian prayers, quotes from the Bible, and fragments of psalms," reports Pataxó Hãhãhãi.
The study involved 19 indigenous experts who are recognized for their knowledge of healing practices. At the time they were interviewed, between February 2022 and November 2023, these experts were between 50 and 85 years old, with 84% over 62 years old. "The elder I had the most contact with was Dona Marta Xavier. She has a very strong gift for healing. She knows many medicinal plants and is able to discover others. When an indigenous person has a more serious problem, she's the one they turn to. Dona Marta has a brother named Aniraldo, an elderly but very active man who works on the farm. Where he lives, there's a health center and a nursery has been built to grow medicinal plant seedlings," recalls the researcher.
In addition to being a healer, Dona Marta was a midwife, and many members of the community were born in her hands. Today, births usually take place in hospitals, but midwives were essential in the past. Pataxó Hãhãhãi quotes a phrase spoken by his grandmother: "If it weren't for the midwives, there'd be no more Indians."
The study was based on a research approach developed by Eliana Rodrigues called "participatory ethnobotany." It places the studied population at the center of all phases of the work, from defining the objectives to publication, including data collection and analysis. "It's a procedure that empowers traditional peoples and challenges the colonial logic that's always dominated the production of scientific knowledge. In it, the indigenous people themselves, or quilombolas, or caiçaras, or Amazonian riverine communities, collect and record their traditional knowledge, becoming, at the same time, the object and subject of the study," explains Rodrigues.
She trains traditional researchers in cultural anthropology and botany. They learn to interview experts in their communities, discover which plants are used and how, access taxonomic classifications of the species used, and record all the knowledge acquired, eventually in their own language. "They do what they want with their traditional knowledge. This is very important because it points to a contribution to a globally controversial issue, that of intellectual property rights over traditional knowledge," emphasizes the researcher.
She gives an example: "Consider the Guarani. They live in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. If a study accesses traditional Guarani knowledge, to whom does it belong? To the country? To the people? To the village? To the family group? This is still an open question. We don't have well-defined international mechanisms for this. But if the indigenous people themselves, trained in academic methods, anthropology, and botany, collect and record this knowledge, they have the autonomy to decide what to do with it. That's the logic: empower indigenous people so they have the power to decide about their own knowledge."
Pataxó Hãhãhãi's research involved visiting ten villages and conducting more than 240 days of fieldwork. Because the researcher lives in the community itself, he had access to situations that are usually off-limits, such as the use of prayers in preparing medicines. "It was a dive into my own history. Listening to the elders and recording their memories taught me things even I didn't know about my people," he says.
In addition to the written records, the project resulted in a book and an audiovisual presentation. There was also collaboration on the implementation of a medicinal plant garden in the villages. A booklet with safe medicinal plant recipes will also be distributed to young people and indigenous health professionals.
The study was supported by FAPESP through a doctoral scholarship awarded to the author.
About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
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