Folk Wisdom Management of Herbs for Postpartum Women’s Healthcare in Communities in Buriram Province

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to investigate community contexts and the inherited form of the folk wisdom of healthcare and herb utilization. The study areas were Ban Sanuan and Ban Sawai Chik Communities in Buriram Province, where herbs were often utilized. The data were collected from October 2020 to April 2021. The samples selected by using purposive sampling consisted of 20 persons, including herbal specialists, folk healers, and herb-inherited relatives, and 30 postpartum women with experience in herb utilization. The research instruments were an in-depth interview, a focus group, and an open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire content included the folk wisdom of healthcare based on the sufficiency economy philosophy, the community contexts, the form of herb utilization, and the form of inheriting the folk wisdom of herbs.

                The research findings revealed that 1) people in both communities have migrated from other areas, such as Surin and Nakhon Ratchasima, and most of them communicate in Khmer. As time passed, their cultures were integrated, resulting in more use of both Khmer and Thai. Moreover, herbs are used for curing diseases, nourishing the body, and enhancing beauty; 2) regarding utilization, most of the herbs used in the family are for curing allergies, poisonous animal bites, and relieving swelling and pain. The forms of utilization are drinking boiled herbal water, eating fresh herbs, masking and compressing, crushing and inhaling, and chewing herbs together with using alcohol to reduce pain and swelling. In addition, some families also combine herbs with the use of magic to treat ailments with unknown causes. It can boost morale and make the patients feel better. With the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 onwards, herbs have gained more popularity, especially ones that help clear the airway, enhance the body’s immune system and eliminate phlegm, etc.; 3) for the forms of inheriting the folk wisdom of herbs, it is managed by teaching and demonstration without written records. This process of transferring knowledge only takes place in families through telling, teaching, and demonstrating one-on-one because the wisdom of herbs is considered a treasure of each family that should be preserved, and disseminating it to any other person is strictly prohibited. When there is a lack of transfer or a lack of interest, the wisdom of herbs is gradually disappearing.