BE ETHNO: Peru, the target community for an Urban Ethnobotanical survey

Within the framework of the three-year project “BE ETHNO: sharing traditions, sharing plants, sharing place, sharing future” (2024-2027, ID:2023-1454), founded by Cariplo Foundation, an Urban Ethnobotanical survey, aimed at documenting the traditional uses of plants by a selected immigrant community in Italy, was planned. The survey will take place both in a pluricultural context in Lombardy (Northern Italy) and in the country of origin, thus evaluating the cultural permeation of the traditional knowledge between the two countries. Which folk heritage to select? Consulting of the Annual Reports on the Presence of Migrants of the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, as well as the Regional Observatory for Integration and Multi-ethnicity of the Lombardy Region (2021-2022), led towards the Peruvian culture, one of the largest and most integrated community in Italy. Lombardy is the first region for number of foreign residents, hosting a total of 26.1% of non-EU citizens, including Egyptians (67.6%), Ecuadorians (47.0%), and Peruvians (44.4%). These statistics are also supported by a lacking literature about Italian Urban Ethnobotanical investigations documenting the traditional uses of plants by the Peruvian community. Thus, first contacts were established in Italy with Italian and Peruvian associations and academic realities, involving experts in pre-Columbian civilizations, anthropologists, and linguistic mediators. Spanish language courses were planned with the Linguistic Centre of the University of Milan, a key element to foster empathy between the research group and the Peruvian informants. Finally, thanks to the close friendship between the PI and a potential Peruvian cultural mediator, the field ethnobotanical investigation in Peru was designed in Cusco, where the mediator’s family still lives and preserves traditional uses of plant species. This way, first contacts with the natives were set up with the aim of meeting local curanderos, as well as planning naturalistic itineraries to record the autochthonous flora. (P. 0399)