Plant Nomenclature and Ethnobotany of the Hadzabe Society of Tanzania

Inspired by guidelines in the works of linguists (e.g. Bernd Heine, Henry Muzale, Karsten Legère) and natural scientists in Tanzania (e.g. Donald Otieno, Joseph Otieno, Mainen Moshi), I document in a monograph the plant names and utilities of the Hadzabe people in Tanzania. This monograph also builds on the contribution of anthropologists (Frank Marlowe, James Woodburn, Nicholas Blurton-Jones,) who have researched on food substances of the Hadzabe people. In the monograph, I classify plants into Ts’itibiʔi “Trees”, Tcikibiʔi “Shrubs and Thickets”, Mákaleabeʔe “Climbers, Creepers and Tubers”, Énápiʔi “Grasses and Herbs”, and Semeya “Crop Names”. On the abundance of plant species, both Tcikibiʔi “Shrubs and Thickets” and Énápiʔi “Grasses and Herbs” surpass other clusters. In the classification, I use information provided by speakers from all four regions: Tlhi’ika at Kipamba, Mangola at Darajani, Dunduhiya at Sungu, and Yaeda Chini (in the fringes of Siponga). But I rely on the knowledge of at least one informant from each region. I present numerous uses of the plants, focusing mainly on medicinal plants and food resources, which had been the core of the research work. While Marlowe (2010) suggests that the Hadzabe know medicinal plants, I argue that there are Hadzabe people who are more knowledgeable about medicines in the regions. Such persons are regarded as waganga in the villages.