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Kit Anderson, a lecturer in the Environmental Program, will give a talk, Ancient Knowledge, Modern Synthesis: Local and Global Roots of Herbalism in Vermont on March 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building. The lecture is part of the Center for Research on Vermonts research-in-progress seminar series.

Anderson will argue that Vermont today is a significant center in the ongoing evolution of herbalism in North America. Several nationally known herbalists practice, write and teach in the state; students of herbalism complete apprenticeships at a number of schools and centers each year; the University of Vermont regularly offers a course on therapeutic herbalism; Burlington has a thriving herb shop that supplies practitioners and individuals and helps support growers and gatherers of herbs; even the medical school has added educational talks for future doctors.

She asks, what exactly is this practice? Where did it come from? Does it have roots in Vermont? Or is it imported from elsewhere? How is the increased interest in green medicine affecting plant populations in the state? Is a distinctive Vermont herbalism developing?

Approaching this study from an ethnobotanists perspective, Kit Anderson explores the specific plant knowledge, healing practices, and beliefs about plants and human health held by several influential herbalists in Vermont. Through interviews, studies of specific gardens through time, analysis of published writings, and a search through historical records on herbalism and plant medicine in Vermont, she traces the origins of this practice. Anderson teaches courses in ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge at UVM. This project is a first step toward a larger research agenda on the ethnobotany of the Northern Forest.

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