Masters Thesis

The ethnobotany of urban home gardens in East Los Angeles

Ethnobotany is the study of people's interactions with plants. The way people incorporate plants into their daily lives and cultural traditions reveals much about the people themselves. Much of the work in ethnobotany focuses on the study of aboriginal, pre-industrial peoples and their relations with plants, but they do not recognize the complex relationships and interdependence between plants and modem societies. This study explores the interactions between people and plants in 15 urban home gardens of East Los Angeles. East L.A. has the largest Mexican-American population in the U.S. This case study explores the extent to which urban home gardens play a role in the practice and preservation of traditional Mexican culture. It identifies plant categories that are being cultivated in these gardens and what they are being used for. It critically examines the economics of these 15 household gardens by comparing the return of garden benefits against the initial investments. It seeks to determine if gardening work plays a role in promoting the physical and social-psychological makeup of East L.A. gardeners. It also examines whether East L.A. home gardens play a role in adding to the nutrition of the household, to community beautification, or in helping protect the immediate environment.

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