World's First Indigenous Ethnobotanist Saves His People's Healing Knowledge

In a groundbreaking achievement for Indigenous science, Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HãHãHãi has become the world's first published Indigenous ethnobotanist, preserving centuries of his people's medicinal knowledge before it vanishes.

Working alongside 19 elders and healing practitioners in Brazil's Caramuru/Paraguassu Indigenous Territory, Hemerson documented 175 medicinal plants and the ancestral practices that have kept his community healthy for generations. The study, published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, represents something unprecedented: an Indigenous researcher recording his own people's knowledge from within the community.

Among those who shared their wisdom was Marta Xavier de Oliveira, an 87-year-old elder who served as a midwife for decades when no doctors existed in the territory. She remembered when the surrounding mountains were covered in forest, filled with healing plants like embaúba for diabetes and a plant called puaia for snake bites.

"When we got sick, that's where we got our medicine from," Dona Marta told researchers, standing in her vegetable garden where she kept several medicinal plants alive. Sadly, she passed away in December 2024, but her knowledge lives on in Hemerson's study.

The timing of this work couldn't be more critical. Cattle farmers illegally occupied the territory for decades, clearing forests and destroying many native plant species. What Dona Marta and other elders carried in their memories risked disappearing forever.

Hemerson called the elders "living libraries" and "Guardians of Memories." For his Ph.D. thesis, he used a participatory approach where community members helped shape every aspect of the research, from planning to fieldwork.

The work also became deeply personal. Hemerson never met his grandfather Edísio Pataxó, a prominent Indigenous leader who died when he was young. Through interviews with elders, he learned stories about his grandfather that reconnected him to his own history.

The Ripple Effect

Plant samples now rest safely in an internationally registered herbarium, and Hemerson is finalizing a book to share this knowledge with future generations. Of the 175 plants documented, 87 were identified down to the species level, with many having their medicinal uses confirmed by scientific literature.

Professor Eliana Rodrigues of the Federal University of São Paulo, who co-authored the study, emphasized the historic nature of this achievement. "There is no other," she said, noting that extensive searches found no previous examples of an Indigenous person living in their village documenting their own people's knowledge through formal academic research.

This work bridges two worlds: honoring traditional knowledge systems while using Western academic frameworks to preserve them. It shows that Indigenous communities don't need outside researchers to validate or record their wisdom.

Hemerson's success opens doors for other Indigenous researchers worldwide to document and protect their communities' knowledge on their own terms, ensuring that centuries of wisdom survives for those who need it most.