Lecture by Aline Mercan – Medicinal Plants, Uprooted Knowledge: Traditional Uses of Medicinal Plants

As part of The Travellers programme, the Joseph Fourier University Library will host a lecture in December 2026 by Aline Mercan, anthropologist and ethnobotanist, entitled Medicinal Plants, Uprooted Knowledge: Traditional Uses of Medicinal Plants.

Since 2009, the JDMM – Mountain Memory Gardens association has been documenting ethnobotanical knowledge and practices across the French Alps in collaboration with Regional Natural Parks, local territories, and the Joseph Fourier Alpine Station. This work highlights the richness of medicinal plant knowledge, most of which has been transmitted orally within mountain communities.

Drawing on several emblematic plant species, Aline Mercan will explore the specificities of traditional Alpine uses, their local variations, and what they reveal about the relationships between people and their environments. The lecture will also address the recent transformations of these practices and the challenges involved in preserving forms of knowledge that are increasingly at risk of disappearing.

An opportunity to discover how medicinal plants embody the histories of territories, ways of life, and cultural transmission.

Venue: Joseph Fourier University Library, Université Grenoble Alpes
Date: December 2026