SFS PERU: AMAZONIAN PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE (SUMMER 1)
PROGRAM DETAILS
Term | Summer Session 1
Credits | 4 semester-hour credits
Prerequisites | No course prerequisites | 2.5 GPA | Must be 18 years of age
Application Deadline | April 1st. Early applications encouraged!
Financial Aid | All accepted students can apply for need-based scholarships, grants, and loans.
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OVERVIEW
Explore the deep connections between medicinal plants biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, and health across the Peruvian Amazon. Deeply rooted in ancestral knowledge, traditional medicine is not just a package of healing practices but an expression of a holistic understanding of health that sees humans, non-human living forms, forests, and the spiritual realm as intimately interconnected.
Through excursions, field visits, and conversations with local practitioners, students will learn how cultural and biological diversity intersect in approaches to healing. The program also critically examines how Indigenous knowledge is perceived within global biomedical frameworks, inviting dialogue between different ways of understanding health and the environment.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
→ Explore the rich biodiversity of the Amazon and its critical role in the development of traditional and modern medicines.
→ Identify, document, and analyze medicinal plants used in traditional medicine through guided forest walks and hands-on ethnobotanical fieldwork.
→ Learn directly from practitioners, healers, and herbalists about medicinal plants, recipes for remedies and holistic health concepts.
→ Investigate how cultural worldviews shape approaches to illness, healing, and ecosystem health.
→ Examine tensions and synergies between traditional Amazonian medicine and western biomedical systems through an intercultural lens.
LOCATION
The Peru Center is an oasis of calming nature, while a short walk from the bustling town of Tarapoto, gateway to Amazon adventures. The Center is connected by a web of pathways lined with flowers, medicinal herbs, and rows of stone terraces teeming with native plant species. Students have access to wooded hiking trails through protected areas, as well as quiet lofts and rocking-chair patios offering panoramic views of the Escalera mountain range.
