Network Perspective: Knowledge and Use of Natural Medical Resources and Urbanization

Abstract In view of the society development and the populational growth, significant transformations in local regional customs are occurring, so that, the use, management and preparation of medicinal natural resources are being significantly altered. Thus, it is essential the development of methods to recognise how and for what reasons the habit of using these resources is being left behind. The present study aims to analyse the existence of an exclusion relationship between traditional knowledge and urbanization in the different sample strata. The research was developed in Crato, Ceará. For data collection, the stratification method and the snow ball technique were used, having as instruments, sociodemographic forms and semi-structured interviews. The results were analysed in a qualitative and quantitative way, using descriptive-associative statistics. The study sample consisted of 125 people of both sexes, living in the strata drawn, aged between 18 and 80. As for the socioeconomic profile, most of the interviewees are female, married and low educational attainment. Evaluating the correlations between the variables that involve the central objective of this work (location and knowledge), it was possible to notice a weak and negative correlation, so that the higher the urbanization level, the lower the knowledge. Therefore, the place has the role of defining popular knowledge about natural resources used as therapeutic products. In short, it is concluded that ethnobiological knowledge is present, however, it has been modified with the acquisition of new knowledge, due to the cultural dynamics of metamorphic societies.