RESEARCH ARTICLE Ethnobiology and Conservation 2018, 7:6 (02 March 2018) doi:10.15451/ec2018-03-07.06-1-42 ISSN 2238­4782 ethnobioconservation.com Ethnomedical Knowledge among Slavic Speaking People in South Kosovo Avni Hajdari1†, Andrea Pieroni2†, Mamta Jhaveri3, Behxhet Mustafa1, Cassandra L. Quave3,4* ABSTRACT Local natural resources play an important role in securing human health in the Balkans, particularly as a source of food and medicine. The aims of this study were to document the ethnomedical practices of Slavic speaking groups in South Kosovo and to compare these findings to other studies conducted in the Western Balkans. Field research was conducted over a series of trips in 2014. Semi­structured interviews in which respondents were asked to list local taxa used for food and/or medicine were conducted in six communities located in the municipalities of Prizren and Dragash. Prior informed consent was obtained and 91 people were interviewed. Voucher specimens of cited wild flora and fungi were collected and deposited in duplicate at the herbaria of the University of Prishtina (Kosovo) and Emory University (USA). A total of 1,050 use citations were recorded for the various uses of 119 species (4 fungi and 115 plants) for food and/or medicine. Additionally, the ethnomedical uses of 27 ingredients of animal, mineral or industrial origin were also documented. The greatest number of citations were for dermatological and food uses of local plants. The most common families reported were Rosaceae (18 species cited), Lamiaceae (16) and Asteraceae (10). Informant consensus regarding category of use was highest (Fic ≥ 0.85) for the categories of oral health, dermatological, and otolaryngological applications. Both wild and locally cultivated plants continue to play an important role among various ethnic groups in South Kosovo, with 389 distinct applications documented in this study alone. Keywords: Balkans; Traditional Ecological Knowledge; Medicinal Plants 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Science, University of Prishtina ‘Hasan Prishtina’, Mother Theresa St. 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo 2 University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy 3 Department of Dermatology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA 4 Center for the Study of Human Health, Emory University College of Arts and Sciences, Atlanta, GA, USA 1 Hajdari et al. 2018. Ethnomedical Knowledge among Slavic Speaking People in South Kosovo Ethnobio Conserv 7:6 INTRODUCTION south­western), the Sharr Mountains form the southern border, shared with Marcedonia Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of and Albania, and Albanian Alps form the local resources is closely tied to community western border, shared with Montenegro and resilience and food security in the Balkans. Albania. These geographic features offer a Over the past decade, a number of studies range in elevation from 265 to 2,656 m.a.s.l., have focused on the ethnobotanical with the majority of the area lying between documentation of TEK in the Balkan 500 to 1,500 m.a.s.l. These geographic Peninsula as it pertains to the use of flora features combined with its modified and fungi for food, handicrafts and medicine. continental climate (including sub­ Specific to the Western Balkans, extensive Mediterranean and alpine climatic zones) fieldwork has been conducted in Albania offer a rich range of habitats for a diverse (Pieroni, Dibra et al. 2005, Pieroni 2008, flora to flourish. Although a complete floristic Pieroni 2010, Pieroni, Cianfaglione et al. survey has not yet been conducted, it is 2014, Quave and Pieroni 2014), Bosnia and estimated that there are between 2,800­ Herzegovina (Redžić 2006, Redžić 2007, 3,000 vascular plant species in Kosovo. Šarić­Kundalić, Dobeš et al. 2010, Šarić­ TEK concerning the medicinal use of Kundalić, Fritz et al. 2010), Croatia (Pieroni, local plants, fungi and animals and their Elena Giusti et al. 2003, Łuczaj, Fressel et byproducts was investigated in the territory al. 2013), Kosovo (Mustafa, Hajdari et al. of Prizren, which lies in the southern part of 2011, Mustafa, Hajdari et al. 2011, Mustafa, the Sharr Mountains (in Albanian known as Hajdari et al. 2012, Mustafa, Hajdari et al. Malet e Sharrit; in Serbo­Croatian as Šar 2015), Macedonia (Rexhepi, Mustafa et al. Planina) and represent one of the main 2013, Pieroni, Rexhepi et al. 2013), centers of biodiversity in Balkans. In Montenegro (Menković, Šavikin et al. 2011, recognition of the rich levels of biodiversity in Pieroni, Giusti et al. 2011), Serbia (Jarić, this region, a 53,469 hectares region of the Popović et al. 2007, Šavikin, Zdunic et al. Sharr Mountains was declared a National 2013, Jarić, Mitrović et al. 2014, Stevanović, Park. Petrović et al. 2014, Zlatković, Bogosavljević Until the end of the World War II, et al. 2014, Jarić, Mačukanović­Jocić et al. healthcare in this region was almost entirely 2015), but until now, research comparing based on traditional medicine, and these traditional ethnomedical practices between traditions continued after the war as well. Slavic speaking groups in Kosovo has not Healthcare was commonly attended to within been carried out. Geographically, the the family, and all physical and mental Western Balkans represent a unique illnesses were treated with traditional biocultural landscape, featuring extensive medicines and rituals. These folk­medical biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity traditions continue even now, especially in across an area of just 213,320 km2. the more mountainous and isolated areas. Despite its small geographic size (10,840 Local people have withstood the extreme km2), Kosovo offers a unique hotspot of conditions of this region for centuries – biocultural diversity for ethnobotanical study. including very harsh winters. Until very While most of the country’s landscape is recent decades, limitations in infrastructure dominated by two plains (the Kosovo plain in and communication forced local residents to the north­eastern and Dukagjin Plain in the be self­sufficient in the provision of their food 2 Hajdari et al. 2018. Ethnomedical Knowledge among Slavic Speaking People in South Kosovo Ethnobio Conserv 7:6 and healthcare. As a result, their primary concerning the geographic characteristics, pharmacopoeia consisted of local medicinal population, cultural aspects and nature plants. Previous ethnobotanical and values of this region have been previously ethnolinguistic studies conducted in Kosovo described. have demonstrated that medicinal plants still In previous field studies, we analyzed the play a crucial role in the sphere of human medical ethnobotany of Albanians and health, especially in isolated rural areas different ethnic groups living in Kosovo ; (Sejdiu 1984, Mustafa, Hajdari et al. 2011, here we focus on the medical and food Mustafa, Hajdari et al. 2011, Mustafa, ethnobotany of the Slavic speaking Bosniaks Hajdari et al. 2015). and Gorani (Muslims), Serbs (Christian Recently, local populations have been Orthodox) and surrounding Albanians negatively affected by migration due to populations (Muslim) living in South Kosovo. displacement and the harsh economic As previously found in other works, the folk conditions caused by the last Kosovo War heritage of the medico­botanical resources (1998­1999). Migration patterns contribute to among South Slavs is particularly rich when the rapid decline of traditional knowledge compared with that of other ethnic groups. It and the vertical transmission of oral is for this reason that we pursued traditional knowledge from one generation to ethnomedical documentation in this area another. with these particular ethnic groups. The main In addition to the highly biodiverse aims of this study were to document the characteristics of the region, it is also very ethnomedical remedies (plants, animal, rich in terms of cultural and linguistic mineral substances and other materials diversity. This region was historically found in nature) used among Slavic occupied by three great empires – speaking groups in South Kosovo and to Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman. During the compare these findings across ethnic periods of between the fall and rise of groups, as well as with the pre­existing different empires, it was occupied primarily ethnobotanical literature of the Western by Bulgarians and Serbs. Today, the area is Balkans available in English. populated by various ethno­linguistic groups: ethnic Albanians (who speak the Gheg MATERIAL AND METHODS dialect of Albanian, as opposed to Tosk Albanian typical of southern Albania), Serbs Field Study (who speak Serbian), Turks (who speak Turkish), Bosniaks (who speak Bosnian), Ethnobotanical field research was Gorani (who speak a Slavic language or conducted in 6 villages belonging to the “Našinski”, a Gora dialect similar to municipalities of Prizren (3 villages) and Bosnian), and Roma (who speak Romani). Dragash (3), located in Sharr Mountains, In 2014, the year of our field­study, the which are situated in the southern part of resident population of Kosovo was estimated Kosovo. to be 1.78 million, with 28% being of the age Field studies were conducted over six day 0­14, 65% at 15­64, and 7% that were 65 field trips in 2014 as part of a fieldwork years and older, with an average life training course with students from the expectancy of 79.4 years for women and University of Prishtina. The research team 74.1 for men . Additional information was divided into small groups consisting of 3 Hajdari et al. 2018. Ethnomedical Knowledge among Slavic