Gender in the Jungle

Jungle Laboratories is the study of a wild yam in Mexico (viz., barbasco) that led to the development of, among other things, oral contraceptives in the early twentieth century. Its author, Gabriela Soto Laveaga, currently works as an associate professor of Latin America at the University of California San Diego. Aside from being interested in the history of medicine, Laveaga is also concerned with the “social consequences of the global search for medicinal plants” [2], specifically how the knowledge required to locate and obtain barbasco impacted the peasantry of southern Mexico, especially during the 1970s.

In researching the history of barbasco, Laveaga recounts how disorganized the Mexican national archives were, and how she was therefore forced to rely on oral histories obtained from locals who had been involved with barbasco production. Interestingly, she notes the “dearth of female presence in the historical record” [17] in regards to a product used exclusively by woman, i.e., oral contraceptives. Laveaga relates how when she would attempt to interview women about their experiences, her “efforts were often thwarted when the husband came to the door and answered [her] questions” [17]. While barbasco cultivation obviously opened up new possibilities socially and politically for Mexican men, it appears that this was not the case for their female counterparts. Further, President Echeverría’s interest in population control and, by extension, his promotion of the development of barbasco into pharmaceutical contraceptives presents a subtext of Mexican women as quiet victims. Of course, this is not Laveaga’s primary concern, but it does present an interesting background to consider while reading through this text.