Demographic and socio-economic determinants of traditional plant knowledge among the Mixtecs of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico

We explored the association of demographic and socio-economic attributes of Mixtecs from Oaxaca, Mexico with their traditional knowledge (TK) of native oak forest plants. We conducted 316 semi-structured interviews on the use of 106 species. We used multivariate analyses to explore the association of two TK indicators with the following respondent attributes: municipality, age, gender, native language, education, and contact with other cultures. All plants surveyed had at least one use. Forage, firewood, food and medicine were the most popular. At local scale, municipalities with the highest proportion of native language speakers, the lowest levels of education and access to household facilities had the highest TK scores. At individual scale, TK was significantly associated with all the socio-economic variables tested. Men and women tend to use native plants in different ways. Acculturation is eroding TK, but TK is still vast and plays a significant role in the Mixtecs' livelihood.