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Saffron: Medicine, Tradition, and the Women Who Sustain Its Ancient Knowledge

Saffron: Medicine, Tradition, and the Women Who Sustain Its Ancient Knowledge

May 4, 2026

A look at the medicinal power of saffron, its deep history across Persia, Ayurveda, and Unani traditions, and the vital role of women whose ancestral knowledge sustains its cultivation.

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Collective Wounds, Collective Healing: Unpacking Trauma Transfer Across Generations

Collective Wounds, Collective Healing: Unpacking Trauma Transfer Across Generations

November 14, 2025

Explore how intergenerational trauma affects Indigenous communities, the biological imprint of historical trauma, and the transformative role of collective healing, cultural connection, and resilience across generations.

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Healing the Colonized Body: From Fight or Flight to Tend and Befriend

Healing the Colonized Body: From Fight or Flight to Tend and Befriend

November 14, 2025

Discover how relational healing, oxytocin, and the tend-and-befriend stress response expand traditional biomedical models and support trauma recovery, resilience, and holistic well-being.

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Herbal Medicine for Hypoglycemia and Type 2 Diabetes

Herbal Medicine for Hypoglycemia and Type 2 Diabetes

August 28, 2025

Traditional practices, such as drinking cinnamon tea, once helped protect against diabetes in Mexico; however, modern diets have shifted these traditions. Managing blood sugar is essential for well-being, and herbs such as ginseng, bitter melon, fenugreek, and neem continue to offer support, reflecting the wisdom of ancestral plant medicine.

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Artemisia ludoviciana (Estafiate) in Indigenous and Modern Medicine

Artemisia ludoviciana (Estafiate) in Indigenous and Modern Medicine

August 28, 2025

Estafiate has long been central to Indigenous medicine in Mexico, valued for treating digestive and respiratory ailments, while also playing a key role in ceremony and cosmology. Documented in early codices and still widely used today, estafiate reflects the resilience of Indigenous knowledge and its ongoing dialogue with modern science.

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Cacao and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerican Culture

Cacao and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerican Culture

August 28, 2025

Cacao holds deep cultural, spiritual, and ecological significance for Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Once central to creation stories, rituals, and local economies, it was later transformed into a global commodity under colonization. Today, communities are revitalizing cacao’s sacred and ecological role, honoring ancestral knowledge.

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Beyond PTSD: Intergenerational Trauma and the Legacy of Colonization

Beyond PTSD: Intergenerational Trauma and the Legacy of Colonization

August 28, 2025

Trauma is not only about events, but also about how they are understood within a culture. For Indigenous peoples, ancestral stories and communal practices can buffer the effects of disaster, while disruptions fracture lifeways and deepen loss. These contrasts reveal how meaning-making, kinship, and resilience shape the legacy of trauma.

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Elina Vesara
Ostern Fund