ABSTRACT
This article explores the evolution of the subject-object relationship in ethnobotanical research. Discussion of the main tendencies of each time period revealed a great distance between subject and object during the beginning of ethnobotany, which decreased in subsequent phases, and only became absent in some contemporary works. Furthermore, paradigmatic transitions in ethnobotany were found to be incomplete and multiple paradigms were found to coexist simultaneously in present time, despite important epistemological ruptures. Analysis of presentations at the last Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology revealed not only an expressive participation of traditional communities, but also a considerable amount of work based on the "autobotanical" approach; a recent trend that expresses a greater symmetry in the consideration of different ways of thinking, knowing and performing research in ethnobotany. Finally, this article discusses the profile of the "new" ethnobotanists, who often occupy spaces of mediation among different knowledge systems and social groups due to their capacity for intercultural communication, as well as their preference for action in contexts related to social and environmental justice.
Keywords:
contemporary ethnobotany; ethnobiology 5; local knowledge; traditional knowledge; traditional populations