Stage #3 (b)
Castanea sativa Mill., Fagaceae
castagnu
This research component focuses on an ethnobotany of the chestnut tree in its cultural context of the Orezza valley:
– knowledge and practices, including cultivation techniques,
– customary law (in particular the “tree” property),
– agrobiodiversity (different varieties are planted).
The data is predominantly ethnographic.
An ethnologist in training, Doria Bellache, a student in the Sociétés et Biodiversité (SEB) Master’s program at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, worked in the field from June to September 2020 on this theme for her final Master dissertation, which she defended in November 2020:
Bellache, Doria, 2020 — « Un verger qui se dénature »: approche ethnoécologique des châtaigneraies de la vallée d’Orezza (Castgniccia, Corse) [“A denaturing orchard”: Ethnoecological approach of the chestnut groves of the Orezza valley (Castagniccia, Corsica)], Master thesis 2nd year, Société et biodiversité, finalité Diversité culturelle, diversité biologique, dir. by Vincent Battesti, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Master « Écologie, biodiversité, évolution », Paris, 111 p.
Studies of genetic diversity are also underway (as was done on the date palm with my evolutionary biologist colleague Muriel Gros-Balthazard) on the locally grown chestnut tree (Castanea sativa Mill.) with the MNHN’s “Paleogenomics and Molecular Genetics” P2GM technical platform at the Musée de l’Homme (with Doria Bellache, Jose Utge and Paul Verdu).
