Abstract

This article has been developed within the project "A utilidade do conhecimento tradicional das Plantas Medicinais em Saúde Pública" within the scope of the Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre (IPP), Escola Superior de Saúde. Project approved by Conselho Técnico-científico of the IPP and Unidade de Investigação do IPP-VALORIZA. We are grateful for the opportunity provided by the University of Cadiz to carry out this work within the framework of several research licenses during the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 courses (Free Movers International program). Likewise, we express our gratitude to the management of the IPP for the facilities given to carry out this research and its attentive treatment in the in-person visits, as well as in all meetings and online activities. Traditional knowledge about medicinal plants, and the biocultural heritage derived from them, can be a useful tool for curricular design in health sciences. Research on this topic oriented toward university students has an interesting potential from a multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary treatment. This field allows for establishing relationships between socioeconomic and environmental problems and the health and well-being of people from the perspective of the intangible heritage of rural communities. On the other hand, traditional knowledge draws from very diverse sources such as empirical, magical, and religious components, primitive medicines, and even from academic medicine itself when it ceases to be scientific. Methodological triangulation is used in terms of data (times, spaces, and people), as well as researchers from different areas of knowledge integrating approaches with an interpretive purpose. Located in a European transboundary territory, the study area contains the mountain ranges of Alor (Spain) and São Mamede (Portugal), two cross-border areas where key informants have been interviewed. The observation unit is people who perform traditional practices to gather natural products, and other randomly selected informants. The study was completed with information collected from the undergraduates of the Escola Superior de Saúde de Portalegre (Portugal). The purpose of this work was to highlight the application of traditional knowledge based on medicinal plants in university studies of health sciences. Based on the results obtained and an epistemological discussion, we propose an educational intervention to broaden the professional mindset from a biocultural perspective. Our proposal directs the student's gaze toward the investigation of medical history and biocultural heritage to understand the determinants of health and to respect the idiosyncrasies of their communities.