Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the inputs and limitations of sensory perceptions in the observation, description and analysis of the transmission of bodily techniques in the domain of domestic and artisanal herbal medicine in Switzerland.

Paper long abstract:

Based on a three-year fieldwork, my contribution deals with domestic and artisanal herbal medicine in Switzerland. Currently inspired by a romantic but also political representation of the relation between humans and "Nature", this activity consists in gathering and transforming medicinal herbs into therapeutic products for familial use or on small scale direct sale.

Most of the practitioners agree that the moment of gathering plays an essential role in the quality of the final product. The practice of medicinal herbs' gathering puts the body in constraining and painful postures and can, according to some representations of practitioners, affect negatively the product. In order to reach "harmony" in the interaction and exchange with this living material (i.e. herbs) and thus extract its best properties, the gatherer should take into account not only the meteorological conditions, the lunar calendar or the favourable hours of the day, but also her or his specific bodily and emotional dispositions before and during the gathering. Perceived as sources of knowledge, the gatherer has to continuously observe, reflect on and adapt her or his gestures to her or his sensory, subjective and situated perceptions. Several ethnographic examples relying on observations but also on my own participation will be mobilized in order to (1) overcome the classical opposition body vs. spirit, (2) show how the material actually acts on human perceptions and techniques, (3) discuss the inputs and limitations of the use of the body as an epistemological and methodological tool in ethnographic research.