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settled down and work continuously. Some and public areas. The capitalist system shapes
have set up, through their own self-reliance, production and involves higher costs of pro-
production bases including for farming, and duction but does not result in higher prices
production of organic rice, plants, vegetables, for products. In the end, bankruptcy is the
fruit, and herbs. The group looked broadly only way out. The current ideas and beliefs
and deeply at the situation depicted in the of local individuals have changed from having
area. It was shown that, being a group with the greatest respect for nature to destroying
a wider view, the members looked deeply into it. Based on these previous aspects, elders

the situation through their creative ideas, and with local knowledge were quite expressive
the effects that are visible to them. about the cultural traditions that then became
The study showed that the informants a good way of life.
acknowledge and understand well AEC and However, the community ignores and
globalization. They provided opinions that, pays no attention; people lack local roots but
as a community has to handle changes that are passionate about consumerism. Therefore,
come along in terms of AEC and globaliza- the community should coordinate to recover
tion, the community should return to its roots wisdom and its local uniqueness, such as
and its uniqueness. The majority of massage traditional healing, growing and using local
practitioners in this study were young women. herbs and vegetables, local foods and prac-
They focused intensely on economic and so- ticing traditional agriculture. Individuals
cial changes; however, their occupation re- should be highly respectful of and depend on
quires time and patient to work with the pa- nature. Moreover, they have to know and
tients, which may indeed affect family rela- understand about AEC and globalization be-

tionships if there is no conversation or clear forehand.
understanding. This approach would remove the local
The highest number of individuals was community from the crisis that has dimi-
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concerned about the ecological impacts, and nished its freedom and even its sustainability.
those on the society and on health. By con-
Conclusion
trast, unhealthy lifestyles and the lack of
healthful food were found among the Thai- The aim of the present study was to
Khmer ethnic group in Surin Province, which understand the perception of folk healers in
had been known for the nutritional and me- Surin Province, as well as individuals related
dicinal value of its vegetation and native foods. to both AEC and globalization, regarding their

It is indeed essential to look through times awareness and preparedness for the forth-
past and recall the native ways rather than coming impacts. The informants were divided
relying on external factors through the use of into three main groups as follows: folk healers,
chemicals that may affect natural resources Thai traditional masseurs, and NGO staff