Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Vesperi, Maria

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

As an individual and community tool, herbalism has the potential to be used as a political statement. Herbalism acts as a catalyst for greater access in models of care that the United States healthcare system lacks. In this thesis I examine examples of free first aid and medic care in Central and South Florida through ethnographic research alongside Western herbalists. Through an activist anthropology framework, the study traces herbalists who use their practice to offer free herbal care to people of “vulnerable populations.” The goal of the thesis is to shed light on herbal activist work through understanding their models of care and their applications for community engagement.

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