Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran
Plant foraging is a millennia-old activity still practiced by many people in the Middle East, particularly in the Fertile Crescent region, where several socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural factors shape this practice. This study seeks to understand the drivers of plant foraging in this complex r...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Plants |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/13/7/1048 |
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| author | Naji Sulaiman Farzad Salehi Julia Prakofjewa Sofia Anna Enrica Cavalleri Hiwa M. Ahmed Giulia Mattalia Azad Rastegar Manijeh Maghsudi Hawraz M. Amin Ahmad Rasti Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini Abdolbaset Ghorbani Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand |
| author_facet | Naji Sulaiman Farzad Salehi Julia Prakofjewa Sofia Anna Enrica Cavalleri Hiwa M. Ahmed Giulia Mattalia Azad Rastegar Manijeh Maghsudi Hawraz M. Amin Ahmad Rasti Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini Abdolbaset Ghorbani Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand |
| author_sort | Naji Sulaiman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Plant foraging is a millennia-old activity still practiced by many people in the Middle East, particularly in the Fertile Crescent region, where several socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural factors shape this practice. This study seeks to understand the drivers of plant foraging in this complex region characterized by highly diverse linguistic, religious, and cultural groups. Our study aims to document the wild plants used by Kurds in Western Iran, identify similarities and differences among Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurdish groups in Iran, and compare our findings with a previous study on the Hawramani in Iraq. Forty-three semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in Kurdish villages of Western Iran. The results revealed the use of 44 wild food plant taxa, their preparation, and culinary uses. Among the reported taxa, 28 plant taxa were used by Mukriyani, and 33 by Hawramani. The study revealed a significant difference between the Hawraman and Mukriyan regions in Iran, whereas there is a high similarity between Hawramani Kurds in Iran and Iraq. We found that the invisible cultural border carries more weight than political divisions, and this calls for a paradigm shift in how we perceive and map the distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:36:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2f60ea6833cd4f918159a86896afa3a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:36:31Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj.art-2f60ea6833cd4f918159a86896afa3a72024-04-12T13:24:57ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472024-04-01137104810.3390/plants13071048Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western IranNaji Sulaiman0Farzad Salehi1Julia Prakofjewa2Sofia Anna Enrica Cavalleri3Hiwa M. Ahmed4Giulia Mattalia5Azad Rastegar6Manijeh Maghsudi7Hawraz M. Amin8Ahmad Rasti9Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini10Abdolbaset Ghorbani11Andrea Pieroni12Renata Sõukand13University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30170 Venezia, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30170 Venezia, ItalyRISTOLAB s.r.l., Via Caracciolo 88, 84068 Pollica, ItalyBakrajo Technical Institute, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Slemani 46001, Kurdistan Region, IraqInstitut de Ciència i Tecnología Ambientals (ICTA-UAB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, SpainHKS Herbarium, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sanandaj 6616936311, IranDepartment of Anthropology, Tehran University, Tehran 1411713118, IranDepartment of Chemistry, University of Pavia, Via Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences and Policies, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Jiroft, Jiroft 7867155311, IranLärarhögskolan, University of Umea, 901 87 Umeå, SwedenUniversity of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, Mestre, 30170 Venezia, ItalyPlant foraging is a millennia-old activity still practiced by many people in the Middle East, particularly in the Fertile Crescent region, where several socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural factors shape this practice. This study seeks to understand the drivers of plant foraging in this complex region characterized by highly diverse linguistic, religious, and cultural groups. Our study aims to document the wild plants used by Kurds in Western Iran, identify similarities and differences among Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurdish groups in Iran, and compare our findings with a previous study on the Hawramani in Iraq. Forty-three semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in Kurdish villages of Western Iran. The results revealed the use of 44 wild food plant taxa, their preparation, and culinary uses. Among the reported taxa, 28 plant taxa were used by Mukriyani, and 33 by Hawramani. The study revealed a significant difference between the Hawraman and Mukriyan regions in Iran, whereas there is a high similarity between Hawramani Kurds in Iran and Iraq. We found that the invisible cultural border carries more weight than political divisions, and this calls for a paradigm shift in how we perceive and map the distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge.https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/13/7/1048ethnobotanyFertile CrescentIranIraqMiddle EastPersian |
| spellingShingle | Naji Sulaiman Farzad Salehi Julia Prakofjewa Sofia Anna Enrica Cavalleri Hiwa M. Ahmed Giulia Mattalia Azad Rastegar Manijeh Maghsudi Hawraz M. Amin Ahmad Rasti Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini Abdolbaset Ghorbani Andrea Pieroni Renata Sõukand Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran Plants ethnobotany Fertile Crescent Iran Iraq Middle East Persian |
| title | Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran |
| title_full | Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran |
| title_fullStr | Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran |
| title_short | Cultural vs. State Borders: Plant Foraging by Hawraman and Mukriyan Kurds in Western Iran |
| title_sort | cultural vs state borders plant foraging by hawraman and mukriyan kurds in western iran |
| topic | ethnobotany Fertile Crescent Iran Iraq Middle East Persian |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/13/7/1048 |
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