Pruebas de Caché

The introduction demonstrates that medicinal plants obviously play an important role in health care in Indonesia. Apart from the lack of access to the modern health care system by, the larger segment of the population, the cultural appropriateness of local herbal medicine is a major factor in the predominant use of traditional medicine. The people of Indonesia have used medicinal, aromatic and cosmetic (MAC) plants – often in the form of plant parts mixtures called jamu - in their daily lives from time immemorial. While currently, there is a growing threat of loss of such knowledge, especially of the utilization of MAC plants, the government shows some concern about the exchange of information and communication on MAC plants which would not only safeguard the cultural identity of the nation, but also provide a useful alternative to Western medicine.

Hence, the general aim of this study is to document and analyse the factors involved in the process of communication behaviour on MAC plant knowledge and practice among members of a local social organization arisan in the research area. Thus, an analysis is conducted of the role of various categories of factors which appear to be involved in this complicated communication process from the local people’s point of view, in which particular attention is paid to the ‘invisible’ factors which seem to play a determinant role leading to the patterns of communication behaviour in the arisan. The focal point of the study is Lembang in the Province of West Java, a mountainous area with communities scattered on the slopes of the mountains.

In order to realise this general aim, the specific objectives of the study are as follows:

Firstly, to give a description of the research setting or the sociography of Lembangin the SundaRegionof West Java, in Indonesia as a developing country in South-East Asia.

Secondly, to present the dual theoretical approach towards the study of communication behaviour of actors within groups and associations, where also a distinction is made between

indigenous, or local communication, largely operational in developing countries, and modern

or global communication, largely operational in Western countries.

Thirdly, to draw special attention to the arisan association, particularly its socio-cultural role in indigenous communication on MAC plant knowledge and practice among its members.

Fourthly, to assess the impacts of the major dimensions of globalisation on both the the biological and culturalMAC plant diversity at community level.

Fifthly, to provide an emic perspective on life in four communities in the Sunda Region of West Java, located in rural, semi-rural, semi-urban and urban areas of the study area, on the basis of largely qualitativ surveys.

Sixthly, to provide a description of the arisan members’ indigenous knowledge and practice of MAC plants in the region, based on the underlying Sundanese cosmovion. In addition, an assessment of the Indonesian health policy is given with regard to the actual use of traditional medicinal plants in Primary Health Care.

Seventhly, to document, analyse and explain the complicated process of interaction among the various factors in determining the communication behaviour on MAC plants by the members of arisan in Lembang through the implementation of a special analytical multivariate model.

The theoretical implications of the study will be important to theory development in the multidisciplinary fields of Communication, Medical Anthropology, Ethnobotany and Sustainable Community Development. Furthermore, the results are expected to offer a deeper

understanding of Sundanese traditional ecological knowledge and ethnobotanical knowledge of MAC plants, and of the patterns of communication behaviour on MAC plant knowledge and practice among the members of the arisan associations.

The practical implications will include the identification of factors and processes which could contribute to strengthening community-based communication, as well as conservation for future sustainable community development in West Java and elsewhere in Indonesia.

In order to meet both the general aim and the specific objectives, the structure and organization of this study has been divided into nine chapters, as follows

Chapter I provides – as mentioned above - the general introduction to the study by assessing communication through local institutions, the cultural heritage of MAC plants in

jamu and the conservation of bio-cultural diversity.

Chapter II discusses the theoretical orientation of the study which elaborates on the communication of MAC plant knowledge and practice, local institutions and communication behaviour, the role of MAC plants in health care and conservation, and the anticipated patterns of communication behaviour on MAC plants in the research area.

Chapter III focuses on the selection of the specific research methodology, the implementation of complementary qualitative and quantitative surveys, and the selection of the appropriate analytical model. It elaborates on the Ethnosystems Approach as the particular research methodology used for data collection and analysis of indigenous knowledge systems.

Chapter IV provides the general background information about Indonesia as a newly developing country, and Lembang as the actual research setting of the study. It will briefly describe the sociography of Lembang, providing comprehensive information about the geography, ecological diversity, the people and their history, as well as their socio-economic situation and the social institutions of the area.

Chapter V describes the general profile of daily life in four Sundanesecommunities: The study population and sample survey, the geography, landscape and location, the socio- demographic and economic profile, and the modern administration in Lembang.

Chapter VI contains an overview of the arisan association, gotong royong, berdikari and

Taman Obat Keluarga (TOGA), as well as Pemberdayaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK) (Family Welfare Empowerment) and the recent contribution of the arisan to the development of integrated microfinance management.

Chapter VII discusses MAC plant knowledge and practice with regard to their use in mixtures - jamu - in Lembang. It also presents an overview of the Sundanese philosophy of life, the use of ubar kampung, the traditional Sundanese medicine. in addition, this chapter also describes traditional healers and traditional birth attendants, as well as the role of MAC plants for health promotion, illness prevention and treatment.

Chapter VIII presents the results of the stepwise analyses of the quantitative data from the household surveys relevant to the development of the multivariate model of communication behaviour. This chapter assesses the reported patterns of communication behaviour on MAC plant knowledge and practice, and particularly seeks to analyse, explain and predict the role of the determinants of such communication in the overall interaction process, and the relationships within the analytical model from the participants’ point of view. The chapter prescribes subsequently the bivariate analysis, the multivariate analysis end the multiple regression analysis pertaining to the completed analytical model of the study.

Finally, Chapter IX presents the conclusions and interpretations of the research findings considering the theoretical, methodological and practical implications, for the process of communication on MAC plant knowledge and practice in the arisan in Lembang.

Notes

1 Emic approaches are those drawn from the way local people perceive things through their own eyes and approach objects in their own language (Martin 1996:11).

2 Dunn (1977: 135) defines a medical system as ‘… the pattern of social institutions and cultural traditions that evolves from deliberate behaviour to enhance health, whether or not the outcome of particular items of behaviour is ill health’. This definition differentiates the medical systems based on the geographical and cultural environments, into three categories namely: the local medical system,the regional medical system andthe cosmopolitan medical system. 3 As Murray & Lopez (1996) indicate, in the early decades of the twenty-first century, ‘health

policy makers will need to address a double burden of disease: first, the emerging epidemics of non-communicable diseases and injuries, which are becoming more prevalent in industrialized and developing countries alike, and second, some major infectious diseases which survived the 20th century. In the developing regions, non-communicable disease such as depression and heart disease are fast replacing the traditional enemies, in particular infectious diseases and malnutrition, as the leading causes of disability and premature death. Injuries, both intentional and unintentional, are also growing in importance and by 2020 could rival infectious disease worldwide as a source of ill-health’.

4 As Surjadi (1997) defines, Posyandu (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu) is an integrated health and family planning service, and operates at neighbourhood level to improve the coverage of the health care system. The target groups of the Posyandu are mothers with children under five years of age (called balita), and mothers in their fertile period. The Posyandu is operated by voluntary Community Health Workers, who are selected by the community and trained for a short period by the staff of the Puskesmas in health related matters.

5 Gerakan Sayang Ibu(Care for Mother Movement) was pioneered in 1996 to eradicate obstacles to obtaining health care for pregnant women, especially in rural areas where the mortality rate was still high, such as availability of ambulance, blood transfusions and the like.

6 Puskesmas (Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat ) is a Community Health Centre established by the Ministry of Health and is a unit of health providing the people with easily accessible and comprehensive health care through an integrated, curative and preventive system (Sarwono 1993). 7 A jamu gendong vendor is usually a young woman, wearing Javanese traditional dress called

kebaya and batik/sarong, who sells the indigenous herbal medicine or jamu in a basket, tied on her back with a batik cloth. She generally sells door-to-door. She usually offers fresh home-made

jamu, although currently, she also offers herbal medicine produced by jamu manufacturers.

8 Pemberdayaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK) refers literally to Family Welfare Empowerment (Slikkerveer & Slikkerveer 1995). Formerly, it was named Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK) refering to the ‘Family Welfare Education Programme’ which provides guidelines by which women ensure the well-being of the family throughout the nation. 9 TOGA is an acronym for Taman Obat Keluarga meaning ‘Garden for Medicine for the Family’.

Initially, its name was Apotik Hidup meaning ‘Living Pharmacy’ referring to a garden close to the house, in which medical plants are cultivated to supply the family with locally available herbal medicines. However, because of lack of space medicinal plants are also sometimes cultivated in pots and polybags (Slikkerveer & Slikkerveer 1995).