Indigenous knowledge, belief and practice of wild plants among the Meru of Kenya : past and present human-plant relations in East Africa

Ibui, A.K. (2007)

Doctoral Thesis

Humankind has resulted to the wild for food and medication since prehistory. Kenya for instance has been named the Cradle of Humankind due to the many findings by the Leakey family, where it has been confirmed that most of our early ancestors were gatherers. While this could be seen as a phenomenon of the past, current studies reveal that many communities in Kenya today, have depended on wild plants for centuries. The Meru, a community living on the Eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya, bears witness to this where plants have been used in many ways as in medicine, food, material, social, fuel, environmental, non-vertebrate poisons and as bee plants. A model adopted accordingly by the Leiden Ethnosystems and Developments Program (LEAD) of Leiden University has helped to look into the visible and invisible factors that influence this community in its daily use of wild plants. The result reveals several factors that reveal significant strengths and bonds that powerfully influence human behaviour towards their knowledge and use of their wild plants. This has culminated into the construction of a working model for this region, and further paved way to understanding implications that result from wild plants use behaviour in Meru.

• Humankind
• Wild plants
• Relations
• Factors
• Variables
• Use
• Classifications
• Behaviour

• All authors: Ibui, A.K.
• Supervisor: Slikkerveer, L.J.; Leakey, R.E.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2007-11-14
• Court: LEI Universiteit Leiden