The Pituri Learning Circle: central Australian Aboriginal women's knowledge and practices around the use of <I>Nicotiana</I> spp. as a chewing tobacco.

INTRODUCTION

Tobacco smoking has a range of known and predictable adverse outcomes, and across the world sustained smoking reduction campaigns are targeted towards reducing individual and public risk and harm. Conversely, more than 87 million women, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, use smokeless tobacco, yet the research examining the effect of this form of tobacco exposure on women is remarkably scant. In central Australia, the chewing of wild Nicotiana spp., a tobacco plant, commonly known as pituri and mingkulpa, is practised by Aboriginal groups across a broad geographical area. Until recently, there had been no health research conducted on the effects of chewing pituri.

METHODS

This article reports on one component of a multidimensional research agenda. A narrative approach utilising the methodology of the Learning Circle was used to interview three key senior central Australian Aboriginal women representative of three large geographical language groupings. The participants were selected by a regional Aboriginal women's organisation. With the assistance of interpreters, a semistructured interview, and specific trigger resources, participants provided responses to enable an understanding of the women's ethnobotanical knowledge and practices around the use of within the context of Aboriginal women's lives. Data were transcribed, and by using a constant comparison analysis, emergent themes were categorised. The draft findings and manuscript were translated into the participants' language and validated by the participants.

RESULTS

Three themes around emerged: (a) the plants, preparation and use; (b) individual health and wellbeing; and (c) family and community connectedness. The findings demonstrated similar participant ethnobotanical knowledge and practices across the geographical area. The participants clearly articulated the ethnopharmacological knowledge associated with mixing with wood ash to facilitate the extraction of nicotine from spp., the results of which were biochemically verified. The participants catalogued the pleasurable and desired effects obtained from use, the miscellaneous uses of , as well as the adverse effects of overdose and toxicity, the catalogue of which matched those of nicotine. The participants' overarching theme was related to the inherent role has in the connectiveness of people to family, friends and community.

CONCLUSIONS

Central Australian Aboriginal women have a firmly established knowledge and understanding of the pharmacological principles related to the content of spp. and the extraction of nicotine from the plant. Widespread use of spp. as a chewing tobacco by Aboriginal populations in the southern, central and western desert regions of Australia is attested to by participants who assert that , with girls in these remote areas commencing use between 5 and 7 years of age. Central Australian Aboriginal people who chew spp. do not consider it to be a tobacco plant, and will strongly refute that they are tobacco users. Central Australian Aboriginal people do not consider that the Western health information regarding tobacco (as a smoked product) is applicable or aligned to their use of . spp. users will deny tobacco use at health assessment. There is a requirement to develop and provide health information on a broader range of tobacco and nicotine products in ways that are considered credible by the Aboriginal population. Health messages around use need to account for the dominant role that occupies in the context of central Australian Aboriginal women's lives.
Information for readers: A consultative organisation of Aboriginal women has as a strategic intent and operational agenda the improvement of Aboriginal women's and children's health across the research region. The group seeks opportunities to enhance their knowledge based on legitimate collaborative research; accordingly, they sought to participate in a range of research activities regarding the use of and women's health outcomes. Of particular note, the group's participants chose to be identified by name in the publication of this research activity. In this article, the term 'Aboriginal' has been chosen by the central Australian women to refer to both themselves and the Aboriginal people in their communities; 'Indigenous' has been chosen to refer to the wider Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The term spp. is used when referring to the plants from a Western perspective; is used when referring to the plants, the tobacco quid, and the practice of chewing from a general Aboriginal perspective; and is used when the participants are voicing their specific knowledge and practices.