The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism

and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism

evgenia fotiou
Kent State University,
[email protected]

abstract

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant mixture used in a ceremonial context

throughout western Amazonia, and its use has expanded globally in recent
decades. As part of this expansion, ayahuasca has become popular among
westerners who travel to the Peruvian Amazon in increasing numbers to
experience its reportedly healing and transformative effects. Drawing from
ethnographic fieldwork in and around the area of Iquitos, Peru, the epicenter
of ayahuasca tourism, this paper focuses on some of the problematic aspects of
western engagement with indigenous spiritual traditions. This engagement is
usually based on idealized and romanticized notions of indigenous shamanism
and an inability to digest its less palatable aspects, such as sorcery. Through
ethnographic examples and ethnohistorical evidence, I show that the
romanticization indigenous peoples is not benign. In fact, this one-sided
romantic image hides the complexity of indigenous peoples’ situations by
erasing the injustices that they have experienced and continue to experience. I
propose a more holistic approach to ayahuasca shamanism that views
indigenous peoples not living in a fictitious harmony with nature but as
people embedded in larger struggles and facing important challenges not the
least of which is the recent commercialization of indigenous spirituality.
k e y w o r d s : Ayahuasca, Shamanism, cultural appropriation, Amazonia,
indigenous peoples

Shamanism is crucially a made-up, modern, western category, an artful

reification of disparate practices, snatches of folklore and overarching
folklorizations, residues of long-established myths intermingled with the

Anthropology of Consciousness, Vol. 27, Issue 2, pp. 151–179, ISSN 1053-4202, © 2016 by the
American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12056

151
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152 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

politics of academic departments, curricula, conferences, journal juries

and articles, funding agencies, and so forth. [Taussig 1989:59]

This article deals with the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism and its ram-
ifications for the way indigenous people are perceived. One of the most fasci-
nating aspects of the study of shamanism is the genealogy of western
approaches to it, which have been extensively discussed (Znamenski 2007;
Boekhoven 2011). Taussig’s definition is a good starting point as it includes
academics in the creation of what we call shamanism. The western fascina-
tion with shamanism, both academic and popular, has been oscillating
between extremes. Approaches to studying shamanism in the past have been
one-sided, either romanticizing or demonizing, while more recent scholar-
ship has focused more holistically, looking at both healing and violent ele-
ments as well as historical and political context (Whitehead and Wright
2004; Riboli and Torri 2013). In this paper, I argue that romanticizing indige-
nous knowledge is not benign, in the sense that a one-sided romantic image
hides the complexity of indigenous peoples’ situation and erases injustices
that they have experienced and continue to experience.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant mixture consumed in the form of a
brew, which is prepared from the stems of Banisteriopsis caapi combined
with the leaves of Psychotria viridis in order to induce the hallucinogenic
effect. The Banisteriopsis caapi vine is indigenous to the western and north-
western Amazon, but its use has expanded globally. For decades, ayahuasca
was the stuff of legend, associated with scientists and literary writers, from the
pioneer field ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes to the poet Allen Gins-
berg and the writer William Burroughs. Today its use has expanded to a glo-
bal level and has had an enormous impact on religious and neo-shamanic
currents in the West. It has also attracted the attention of scientists interna-
tionally, who conduct research with ayahuasca in order to determine possible
uses for it in the West. The globalization of ayahuasca shamanism poses cer-
tain challenges, namely the persistence of engaged westerners to create
romantic idealizations of “primitive” tribal peoples.
In indigenous Amazonian shamanism, ayahuasca had a variety of uses.
Depending on the ethnic group, it was used in communal rituals of men, sing-
ing and dancing, for locating game animals, divination, in warfare and conflict,
to see faraway places, and for healing by communicating with spirits. It was
also important in native art, cosmology and ethnoastronomy, and in the Jaguar
complex (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1975). Among indigenous Amazonians, ayahuasca
is very important in maintaining social order and in interpreting daily life
events. Shamans, being mediators between the spirit and the human worlds,
need ayahuasca in order to move freely between the two and negotiate and
restore relations between them. Shamans also contact the “master spirits of the
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 153

animals in order that the hunters may find game and influence the spirits of
the seasons so that harvests will be abundant” (Langdon 1979:64). Ayahuasca is
so fundamental for some groups like the Shuar (J
ıvaro) of the Ecuadorian
Amazon that, as Michael Harner (1973) points out, the ayahuasca induced
experience is seen as the true reality, whereas normal waking life is considered
simply an illusion. For the Shuar, the true forces behind daily life are in the
supernatural realm and can only be accessed through the psychedelic experi-
ence. In addition, in many tribal cultures ayahuasca, along with other mind
altering plants, is viewed as an intelligent being possessing a spirit (ayahuasca
mama) who is able to communicate and transmit knowledge to humans
through the visionary state (Whitten 1976).
This paper is based on research that started with my dissertation fieldwork
on shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru (Fotiou 2010) and has evolved into an
ongoing project focusing mainly on interculturality. The larger issue I ini-
tially wanted to explore was how ayahuasca shamanism is constructed in differ-
ent settings. More specifically, the question I set out to answer was “Why do
westerners pursue shamanic experiences and how are these experiences con-
structed in the context of shamanic tourism?” I went to the Amazon looking for
what most tourists are looking for: authentic shamans. Ironically, my first
encounters were with western shamans, and this was an early lesson in the
forces of globalization. Ayahuasca tourism, or as I like to call it shamanic tour-
ism, is a relatively new phenomenon that has escalated in the last decade. How-
ever, the western fascination with shamanism—including psychoactive plants
and substances and the changes in consciousness that they produce—is deeply
rooted in western intellectual tradition. The western interest in ayahuasca is a
continuation of this long history and belongs to its latest chapter that has been
called the “psychedelic renaissance” (Joy 1992; Cloud 2007; Kotler 2010), domi-
nated by the themes of healing, self-transformation, and the sacramental use of
hallucinogens. This transformation of the subject is facilitated by contact with
the radically Other, the premodern, spiritual, traditional, and sacred.
The first section of this article discusses the history of the western fascina-
tion with shamanism. This section is meant to give some context and is by
no means exhaustive. It is followed by a discussion of some of the history of
the Northwest Amazon, the epicenter of ayahuasca tourism today. Ayahuasca
tourism is contextualized further in the third section in which I discuss and
problematize some recent controversies among academics.

&

shamanism and the western imagination

Shamanism has fascinated the western imagination at least since the 18th
century (Flaherty 1992:97–98). Endless writings have attempted to interpret
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154 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

this complex phenomenon. Because there are certain parallels between the
ways the shaman and the noble (or ignoble) savage were constructed in the
West, in this section I take a look at several interpretations of shamanism and
place the phenomenon of shamanic tourism in the historical continuum of
this long-standing and often contradictory relationship with shamanism. It is
clear that looking at these interpretations reveals more about the interpreters
than about shamanism itself. Admittedly, the West has had and continues to
have an ambivalent relationship with shamanism. Many anthropologists
would agree that the term shaman itself is problematic and many consider it
a “desiccated,” “made-up, western category” (Geertz 1966; Taussig 1987,
1989).
The word shaman, commonly used today to refer to practitioners called
ayahuasqueros or curanderos in Amazonia, comes from the Tunguz word
saman (Eliade 1964). The word entered the European vocabulary in the 18th
century from travelers and explorers in Siberia who were mostly Dutch or
German native speakers (Laufer 1917; Flaherty 1992). Even though shamans
are not the only religious figures in their societies, according to Mircea Eli-
ade, the shaman alone is the “great master of ecstasy” (1964). In fact, because
of Eliade’s work shamanism is still closely associated with altered states of
consciousness (ASCs) even though some have challenged the usefulness of
terms like trance and ecstasy as analytical tools when it comes to discussing
shamanism (Hamayon 1993, 1998). According to Immanuel Casanowicz
(1926) the Tunguz word for shaman means one who is “excited,” “moved,”
or “raised.” Mihaly Hopp
al (1987) adds that another translation of the word
saman is “inner heat” and it comes from the Sanskrit word saman that means
song. The word has been widely discussed and contested as being inappropri-
ate for defining such a wide spectrum of traditional healing practitioners
(Kehoe 2000) to the point that most anthropologists today prefer to speak of
shamanisms (Atkinson 1992), and others argue that because the use of the
term has changed so much over time it is impossible to arrive at an agreed
upon operational definition (Jones 2006). Most definitions are either general
and universal or context specific. In indigenous languages there is a specific
word assigned to healers usually related to some important aspect of that cul-
ture’s healing complex. Atkinson has brought attention to the diverse
approaches and theories on shamanism and warns of generalizing theories
that might lead to “unwarranted reductionism and romantic exoticizing of a
homogeneous non-Western ‘other’” (1992:309).
A historical overview of western approaches to shamanism reveals certain
patterns that are important to point out if we are to show the evolution of the
concept. The first reports of travelers on shamanism were sensationalistic and
contributed to a view of the shamanistic phenomena as representative of the
irrationality of the non-western Other or emphasized its fraudulent nature.
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 155

However, as priorities and attitudes shifted in the West, the concept became
associated with spirituality, healing, closeness to nature, and an array of attrac-
tive and desirable attributes. Both the original dismissal of shamanism and its
reverence today are stereotypes and do not take into account the complexity of
lived experience. Dagmar Wernitznig (2003) discusses two discourses in rela-
tion to indigenous people and knowledge: the Good Indian and the Bad
Indian, otherwise known as the noble and the ignoble savage. He identifies two
historical traditions that gave birth to the above discourses. Classical thought
emphasized the idyllic state of simplicity and integrity, while the Judeo-Chris-
tian thought focused more on bestial and devilish interpretations of the primi-
tive. In both discourses, the savage is perceived in opposition to the civilized
West, and both are equally one-dimensional and static. They view the Other as
frozen in time and are reinforcing stereotypes and prejudices. Within the dis-
course of the Good Indian, we find the stereotype of the Indian as keeper of
the earth, a very familiar image in the 20th century.
Roberte Hamayon (1998) suggests three trends in the history of the
approaches to shamanic behavior: devilization, medicalization, and idealiza-
tion. She places the first one historically in the 17th and 18th centuries. Early
chroniclers were Christian clergy who described shamans as “ministers of the
devil” (Narby and Huxley 2001:9) and viewed shamans in opposition to
Christianity and as “taken” by evil spirits. During the Enlightenment, primi-
tivist ideas were used to educate with no intention to encourage people to
appropriate savage ways of living (Wernitznig 2003). Rather, the intention was
to use them as a commentary on the civilized society’s malaise. During that
time, we see a split in the ways shamans were described. One approach pre-
sented them as “charlatans,” “imposters,” and “magicians.” For example,
Denis Diderot, the first writer to define “shaman” and the chief editor of the
Encyclopedie, referred to shamans as Siberian “imposters” who perform
“tricks that seem supernatural to an ignorant and superstitious people”
(Diderot 2001:32). The Russian botanist Stepan Krasheninnikov reported that
the beliefs of the natives of eastern Siberia were “absurd” and “ridiculous”
(2001:29). The second trend was “medicalization” and is associated with the
19th century and colonialism (Chaumeil 1999). Jane Monnig Atkinson (1992)
called this psychologizing of shamanism, and it relates to concerns with
either the psychopathological aspects or the therapeutic aspects of shamanic
behavior. The first scholarly literature on shamanism underlined the similari-
ties of the shamanic trance to pathological states such as schizophrenia.
Eliade (1964), George Devereux (1961), Anthony Wallace (1966), Julian Sil-
verman (1967), E. Loeb (1929), and Paul Radin (1937) have all in one way or
another defined the shamanic state as pathological. Later this bias was lifted
and authors such as Erika Bourguignon (1968) have pointed out its healing
aspects (Peters and Price-Williams 1980:402).
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156 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

The third—and more relevant to the current discussion—stage in Hama-

yon’s typology (1998) is the “idealization” of shamanism. This trend can be
traced historically to the 19th century but reached a peak in the 20th century.
We can find traces of this approach in European romanticism, with its attrac-
tion to the spiritual and the mysterious, as well as in American transcenden-
talism and the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau,
both of which had a similar “organic approach to nature and spirituality”
(Znamenski 2007:24). Echoing this romantic perpetuation of the nature–cul-
ture dichotomy and inspired by anti-modernist sentiments, shamanism is
viewed as the most archaic religious form and as Hamayon stated is “praised
as representative of a genuinely natural philosophy particularly useful in our
modern Technocratic World. Primitive is turned into primordial, wild into
ecological, magic into mystic, makeshift into artistic” (2001:3). In fact this
nostalgia about the past and hopeful idealism about the future seems to be a
common theme of modernity. This approach echoes what Renato Rosaldo
called imperialist nostalgia (1989), the sort of nostalgia that conquerors feel
about the conquered, which as he pointedly argued, is not innocent.
In the 1960s, several countercultures identified with the image of the noble
savage as an alternative to civilization and indigenous peoples were imagined
in some kind of idyllic harmony with nature (Ellen 1986). For the first time,
we see widespread use of psychedelics for spiritual purposes and shamanism
was approached as a form of spirituality and a source of creativity. During
this time Carl Gustav Jung became popular, partly because of his anti-
modern message and partly because he opened the door to the recognition
of the role of the sacred and the spiritual in psychological development. At
this time, we see the appearance of shamanism in the mainstream and Eli-
ade’s and Carlos Castaneda’s work play a fundamental role in this. It has
been argued that Eliade “made shamanism go global” (Znamenski 2007:180).
Eliade contributed to the idealization of shamanism with his phenomenologi-
cal approach, studying shamanism in its own terms without “reducing” it to
social life, history, economics, or brain function. He approached shamanism
as archaic spirituality and looked for universal ideas, symbols, and metaphors
like the axis mundi (Eliade 1964). He stressed that the shamanic universe
consisted of three levels, the universality of which has been debated by other
scholars. Both Eliade and Jung were interested in identifying cross-cultural
archetypes of spirituality and both believed that westerners could restore har-
mony by learning from the non-western Other. Several scholars, including
some anthropologists, followed in their footsteps. Peter Furst (1976) agreed
that shamanism was the oldest form of religion and the foundation for all
other religions. Barbara Myerhoff (1976) also looked for universal patterns
among spiritual practitioners and considered shamanism to be a transcenden-
tal phenomenon unrelated to socioeconomic circumstance (Znamenski
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 157

2007). She also lamented the spiritual poverty of the Western world and the
fact that Western society did not have shamans (1976).
During the 1980s and later, we see an emphasis on the image of the spiri-
tual noble savage, showing inner harmony (with oneself) and outer harmony
(with the environment; Wernitznig 2003). The environmentalist movement
found in indigenous knowledge the potential remedies for civilization’s prob-
lems, popularizing the stereotype of the wise, prophetic Indian, which is still
with us today. During this time, neoshamanisms1 claimed a strong concern
for ecology and everything that is considered to be “natural.” Anthropologist
Michael Harner introduced his method of core shamanism, a self-reliant sys-
tem that is purposely culture free so as to be more easily adapted by western-
ers to their own use (Harner 1980). He founded the Foundation for
Shamanic Studies in 1979 and has been training westerners in shamanic
techniques since then. This is possible because “core shamanism can be
transplanted into any cultural setting as a skeleton around which a person
can build his or her own spirituality” (Znamenski 2007:242), a model that fits
very well with western individualism. In his widely read book The Way of the
Shaman, Harner described shamans as “keepers of a remarkable body of
ancient techniques that they use to achieve and maintain well-being and
healing for themselves and members of their communities” (1980:xiii). This
and similar definitions of shamanism seem to be popular among contempo-
rary spiritual seekers.
One problem with a lot of shamanism-related literature is that shamanism
has been traditionally presented out of context. This started with Eliade who
“turned the inspirational religious practices of north Asia into a timeless mys-
tery” (Humphrey 1994:191). He popularized an ideal type of Siberian
Shamanism and his model was adopted later by others as a point of compar-
ison for other regions. Castaneda also perpetuated this by stressing that
shamanism and sorcery did not have any borders (Znamenski 2007) and con-
cluded that “sorcery does not have a cultural focus” (De Mille 1976:71).
Recent scholarship departs from this early framework and is concerned with
the particular. In my research I looked at how, depending on context and
the agents involved, the views of shamanism, and ayahuasca in particular,
change. Its appropriation by western agents has not only changed the global
discourse around shamanism but also the local one. However, while the
interest of scholars has shifted to context-specific studies of shamanism (e.g.
Thomas and Humphrey 1994), the general public still embraces ayahuasca
and Amazonian shamanism in the framework of a universal spirituality not
attached to a particular cultural context. As a college student I was also
attracted to the universal appeal of shamanism that I found in Eliade’s work;
however, while exploring the literature, not only was I fascinated by the his-
torical evolution of the concept of shamanism but I was confronted with a
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158 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

real dilemma when I started my fieldwork in Iquitos. The shamans I worked

with bore no resemblance to the timeless bearers of universal knowledge that
I encountered in Eliade’s work as a student. I either had to reject them as
fakes or treat them as what they were: not archetypes but real people operat-
ing in a particular socio-cultural context.
As this brief overview shows, we might not be closer to understanding sha-
manic practices but it is certain that our understanding of it has evolved. As
Narby and Huxley concluded, “Even after five hundred years of reports on
shamanism, its core remains a mystery. One thing that has changed, how-
ever, is the gaze of the observers. It has opened up. And understanding is
starting to flower” (Narby and Huxley 2001:8).

&

shamanic tourism in western amazonia

I will now turn to Western Amazonia and Iquitos, Peru in particular where
the phenomenon of ayahuasca or shamanic tourism has flourished in the last
decades. In my dissertation (Fotiou 2010) I argued that I do not see shamanic
tourism as an anomaly but as consistent with the nature of shamanic knowl-
edge, which has always been exchanged across and between cultures. Tradi-
tionally, in South American shamanism power and symbolism have been
sought outside a particular cultural milieu. Moreover, in the West, esoteric
knowledge has often been sought in faraway places (Helms 1988). I also
found commonalities with pilgrimage in that western participants pursue
these experiences for healing and personal transformation—the two central
themes of pilgrimages cross-culturally (Dubisch and Winkelman 2005). At
the same time I acknowledged the potentially problematic aspects of this
intercultural exchange between what I see as unequal parties—namely west-
erners and local shamans (indigenous and mestizo)—in that the former fail
to make the association of shamanism with exploitation.
I find it important to focus on some of the exploitative history of the area
that has been associated with the form of shamanism we know today (Taussig
1987; Gow 1994). In addition, I am hoping that it will put current relations
of power into the historical context. Anthropologists, such as Peter Gow
(1994), have argued that ayahuasca shamanism with a focus on healing, is a
result of colonialism and a response to a brutal history, specifically the mis-
sion experience and the rubber boom era2 (1880–1912). It has also been
argued that ayahuasca shamanism was transmitted from indigenous people to
mestizos during the rubber boom era. The hypothesis is that when these set-
tlers became sick they went to indigenous healers, and some might have
become apprentices and upon their return started servicing their communi-
ties (Beyer 2009:301). Either way, if we take into account the long-existing
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 159

links between jungle and Andean populations, it is plausible that intercul-

tural exchange of shamanic knowledge took place long before the rubber
boom.
Conquest of the jungle was driven by powerful economic interests. This
created a discourse that dehumanized indigenous people and turned them
into resources to be harvested (Hill 1999:744), and indigenous people were
stereotyped as wild, cannibalistic savages (Hill 1999:745). The rubber boom
was the most definitive period in the history of the area and Jonathon Hill
goes as far as to say that “had it not been for the rapid decline of rubber
gathering in lowland South America, it is doubtful that any indigenous peo-
ples of the southern lowlands would have survived in the twentieth century”
(1999:753). The main labor force that collected rubber consisted of mestizos
who entered the work force voluntarily and members of a number of indige-
nous groups of the area, such as the Huitoto, Bora, and Andoke (Hvalkof
2000:94). The most notorious case of atrocities committed against indigenous
people during the rubber boom was that of Putumayo, an area between
Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia where the greatest violence against indigenous
people took place. This portion of Amazonian history is described as a holo-
caust by Soren Hvalkof (2000). The rubber barons who were responsible for
the enslavement and decimation of indigenous people, Carlos Fitzcarrald,
M
aximo Rodriguez, Julio Arana, and others, are seen today, by the Peruvian
state, as fearless pioneers and defenders of the Peruvian sovereignty and are
presented as national heroes (Rummenhoeller 1985:6). These characters have
achieved mythological status through foreign media, one example being Wer-
ner Herzog’s film “Fitzcarraldo” (1982), and are used as standards in the
modern colonization and development efforts of the Amazon. The city of
Iquitos became prominent and affluent during that era and locals often talk
about it as a golden era, during which Iquitos had an opera and a tramway.
The rubber boom changed the region in fundamental ways, and its effects
can be seen today. Indigenous populations were immensely reduced or dis-
placed. Some speak of “Indian Hunts” (Rom
an et al. 1994:153). Many indige-
nous people were captured or killed, and others escaped to the interior of
the jungle away from the riverbanks (Rom
an et al. 1994:157). Disease also
contributed to the decline of the population. Many indigenous groups left
the areas where they traditionally lived,3 while others such as the Huitoto
and the Bora were nearly wiped out (Taylor 1999). The cultural changes dur-
ing the rubber boom are reflected in today’s jungle culture, a synthesis of the
relations that were created during that time (Rom
an et al. 1994:162). For
example, even after the end of rubber extraction indigenous people remained
trapped and subjected in a feudal system known as habilitacion (Gow 1994),
in which they came to possess the lower stratum. Villages gave place to fun-
dos or haciendas, where life revolved around the feudal house (Rom
an et al.
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160 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

1994:163). The relations of dominance and dependence between Indians and

patrons were preserved for long after the end of the rubber boom (Maybury-
Lewis 1999). Indigenous communities in the area were also affected by the
war with Ecuador in 1941, and it was not until the 1960s that the lowlands
moved into the center of national thinking. In the second half of the 20th
century, the population of Iquitos increased considerably due to migration
from the jungle, and the city expanded and became increasingly more urban-
ized (Rumrrill 1983). At the same time, exportation of lumber increased.
In the last decades, Iquitos became the ecotourism gateway to the Amazon.
It is surrounded by a number of jungle lodges and is relatively close to a nat-
ure reserve (Pacaya Samiria). As interest in ayahuasca among Westerners
increased, lodges started offering optional ayahuasca ceremonies as part of
their ecotourism packages in the 1990s. Today, there are an increasing num-
ber of lodges that specialize in ayahuasca retreats. Most facilities focusing on
ayahuasca ceremonies and catering to Westerners are on the road that leads
from Iquitos to Nauta—the only road connecting Iquitos to another town. A
few more experienced ayahuasca partakers will often participate in cere-
monies held in the city in the house of a shaman. Ayahuasca retreats around
Iquitos have websites and bring groups directly from the United States or
Europe through established contacts there. Some have offices in the city for
the tourists that come to Iquitos looking for a tour. Most hotels and some
restaurants will refer clients to these offices and get commissions as well. In
the last few years, local restaurants frequented by tourists started offering food
appropriate for “ayahuasca diet4” and feature boards with flyers advertising
retreats or shamans. Consequently, there is great competition for tourists and
often rivalries arise between locals that take the form of spreading rumors
about competitors. Because of this, most companies prefer to bring groups
directly from abroad.
During my fieldwork between 2003 and 2005, there was a small but steady
flow of visitors that were in Iquitos specifically for ayahuasca. In 2005, an
employee of the municipal tourist office told me that they estimate the num-
ber of ayahuasca tourists (I interpret this to be tourists traveling to Iquitos
specifically to take ayahuasca) to be about 200 a year, a number that at the
time seemed realistic based on my own observations. In the last few years,
this number is estimated to be in the thousands, but systematic data need to
be collected to corroborate this number. One of the reasons for this dramatic
increase is that in the summer of 2005 an American living in Iquitos started
organizing an annual conference on shamanism in order to bring scientists
and shamans together, providing a safe environment for first time users to
learn about ayahuasca and participate in ceremonies between conference ses-
sions. The first conference had 200 attendees with similar numbers in the
consequent years. This means that hundreds of new visitors started coming
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 161

to Iquitos specifically for ayahuasca. Another event that spiked interest in aya-
huasca and Iquitos was an article published in National Geographic Travel
(Salak 2006), which made such an impression that it attracted an even
greater number of visitors.
Iquitos is a paradoxical place, where modernity coexists with a universe of
fantastical tales. Amazonian myths and folktales are frequently told, and these
stories reveal both the worldview of their creators and traces of the historical
trauma they experienced. Such are the stories of the spirits that will eat peo-
ple’s fat or steal their organs (Pishtacos) and of pink dolphins transforming
into gringos (an artistic rendition of which you can see in Figure 1) to have
sex and impregnate local women. Some of these stories may reflect anxiety
regarding strangers and foreign predators, a fact that escapes many of the
westerners engaging with ayahuasca shamanism, namely that they are enter-
ing a space of ambivalence in which they can be both predators and prey.
Even though westerners view ayahuasca as a healing tool for a variety of
ailments, ayahuasca shamanism was more complex and played a central role
in the social life of the indigenous people of the area. Today it continues to
play an important role even though its form and significance have changed
through the work of missionaries as well as acculturation. Most ethnogra-
phies treat ayahuasca shamanism “as part of an unbroken pre-Columbian tra-
dition” (Gow 1994:90), and ayahuasca shamanism is seen as completely
integrated within the traditional culture. In Western Amazonia today, healing

f i g u r e 1 . a n a r t i s t ’ s r end i t i on o f t he p i nk d ol ph i n th at c an
t r a n s f o rm i n t o a w h i t e m a n .
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162 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

is at the center of ayahuasca shamanism. However, according to Gow (1994),

it was developed in the new jungle urban centers, which were established by
Jesuit and Franciscan missions in the area. On the basis of this fact that
indigenous peoples who did not have direct contact with outsiders—such as
the Sharanahua, Cashinahua, Culina, and Harakmbut—“use ayahuasca, but
in very different contexts from that of ayahuasca shamanism” (Gow 1994:110).
More recent scholarship also indicates more recent introduction of ayahuasca
to certain indigenous groups (Langdon and Santana de Rose 2012; Shepard
2014). These examples challenge claims of the primordiality of ayahuasca
shamanism.
Michael Brown (1989) has remarked on the recent tendency of both aca-
demics and the public to focus only on the positive and healing aspects of
shamanism. While western cultures make a clear distinction between good
and bad and light and dark (Fausto 2004), there is no such clear distinction
in Amazonian shamanism, “which thrives on ambivalence” (Fausto 2004:172).
Shamans have an “ambiguous position in society” (Langdon 1992:14) because
they may employ power in negative ways, especially when they direct it
against enemies outside of their social group. The sources from where sha-
mans appropriate their power are ambivalent—they have the power to heal
as well as harm. According to much Amazonian ethnography, it is not
uncommon for shamans to engage in shamanic rivalries, wars, and duplicity
(Hugh-Jones 1994:32–37).
Most popular and New Age literature presents an overly positive picture of
shamanism throughout the world. In this era of western fascination with
shamanism, its dark side has been covert. A result of this romanticization
of shamanism is that even when there is evidence of malevolent shamans
there is a tendency to dismiss them as “pseudo shamans.” This is not only a
western phenomenon. As Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer notes in Siberia,
“there is a tendency to romanticize ‘true traditional’ Sakha shamans as fully
benevolent, priestly, and white” (1996:313). However, she reports that accord-
ing to her consultants a shaman is not truly great unless he evokes both feel-
ings of love and fear (1996:313). The romanticization of shamanism and
similar traditions is not necessarily only an effect of Western interest in them.
The focus on shamanic rivalries and competition makes indigenous peoples
themselves uneasy, and it appears that they might choose to forget the nega-
tive aspects of their spiritual tradition, especially if we take into account that
these traditions were demonized and suppressed for a long time (Mandelstam
Balzer 1996:314).
Recent scholarly work on the subject of shamanism in Amazonia stresses
that “Amazonian shamanism is not a loving shamanism” (Fausto 2004). The
concept of energy is a key metaphor in Amazonian worldview and is related
to the soul, power, desire, and intention. Power resides in the human body
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 163

and is affected by the ingestion or expulsion of substances. Object intrusion

is considered a common cause of illness and is considered to be the conse-
quence of malevolent intent and ascribed to sorcery and witchcraft. The
healing shaman sucks the foreign object from the patient’s body and spits it
out. In this worldview, good and evil are not fixed categories but are rela-
tional and highly contextual. In accordance with New Age vocabulary, the
phenomenon of sorcery and shamanic warfare is perceived by some western-
ers as a universal battle between good and evil, and they fail to see it as con-
textualized in local conflicts. Brown (1985, 1989) argues that the analytical
notion of a strict distinction between benevolent and malevolent shamans is
an oversimplification because the shamans’ power to heal or kill comes from
the same source. In addition, shamans have to negotiate constantly in order
to continue to be considered benevolent actors in the local social relations.
This is also attested by Robert Murphy who argues that among the Mun-
duruc
u shamans, in addition to having the capacity of curing disease, they
also have the capacity of inflicting harm on others and sorcerers are shamans
“gone bad” (1960:135). As a result, they are considered to be the bearers of a
latent and generalized aggression; they are often blamed for tragedies in the
community and many sorcerers have been executed for this reason.
In societies where social life is based on an ethic of sharing and coopera-
tion, as in Amazonia or the Pacific, people depend on each other for subsis-
tence and all difficulties are believed to be the result of malevolent action by
someone (Lepowsky 1993). Beliefs in sorcery have been seen by scholars as
“social equalizers ensuring that people of all ages and both sexes receive the
respect of others” (Lepowsky 1993:201). While such beliefs and accusations
might exacerbate social conflict (Lepowsky 1993), they might also be a way to
keep people in check. Sorcery reveals a lot about social relations, in this case
possible social tensions (Lepowsky 1993). Today envy as well as sexual jeal-
ousy are the most common motives for sorcery. According to much of the
anthropological literature, sorcery accusations and practice increases in zones
where there is pressure, poverty, and competition over limited resources,
especially in zones created as a result of colonial processes. Another proposi-
tion is that in certain cases healing appears to be a mask put on traditional
customs in order to be tolerated by colonial and modernizing powers (Hama-
yon 1998). In any case, it seems that modernity has not eradicated “irrational”
beliefs but rather exacerbated them (Izquierdo and Johnson 2007). In Amazo-
nia, among the locals, the financially successful shamans are often consid-
ered to be sorcerers. According to some of my consultants, these shamans
have managed to be successful with outsiders because they have been aided
by spirits who are considered to take control of the shaman in question and
use them to pursue their own purposes.
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164 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

Stephen Hugh-Jones (1994:35) indicates that the ambivalence of shaman-

ism has been described as either sociopolitical, when shamans use their pow-
ers to harm enemies on the one hand and cure members of their own group
on the other, or as the product of apprenticeship, in the case of those sha-
mans who fail to exercise self-control and master their emotions or aggressive
desires, thereby becoming sorcerers. As one of my consultants warned me
during my fieldwork, shamanic powers entail a certain risk. Not only must
all shamans contend with the fact that certain spirits ask them to commit
harm in return for their healing powers, but novice shamans also frequently
experience, and must learn to control, their own urges to harm or kill (Perru-
chon 2003; Beyer 2009). Thus, far from being the spiritual and healing tradi-
tion that westerners seek, accusations of sorcery attacks abound in the area
with westerners themselves often being the victims. It is also clear from the
above that in indigenous Amazonian societies the shaman’s position is not an
enviable one. Often they have no real power or more resources than anybody
else in the community and when they do they are suspected of sorcery.
Because they are capable of both healing and destruction how they are per-
ceived depends on context—a context of which most westerners engaging
with ayahuasca shamanism are oblivious. In addition, western interest has ele-
vated some individual shamans, either because they make more money or
because they are approached by foreigners as wise gurus or spiritual teachers.
As we saw, not only has colonialism played an important role in the devel-
opment of ayahuasca shamanism as we know it, but as the recent debates I
will discuss below show, the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism continues
to transform it. Something that was meant to heal the effects of colonial
encroachments, paradoxically today is healing the ailments of westerners.
What does this mean for the way indigenous peoples are perceived today?

&

the trouble with appropriations

Shamanic tourism is one among many examples of appropriation of indigenous
knowledge by westerners. Another notable example is Tibetan Buddhism as dis-
cussed by Donald Lopez (1998). He discusses the different and sometimes even
conflicting images of Tibetan Buddhism, often considered in opposition to
western culture. Similarly to some of the portrayals of ayahuasca, Tibet is imag-
ined to embody the spiritual and the ancient and to hold wisdom lost to west-
erners. Lopez concludes that this idealization of Tibet might end up harming
the cause of Tibetan independence (1998:11). Another example is Sierra Maza-
teca as discussed by Benjamin Feinberg (2003), an area that attracted many
westerners for similar reasons that ayahuasca does: to experience the exotic and
divine Other in the form of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Feinberg argues that
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 165

in this case “mushrooms are used as part of the struggle over the definition of a
legitimate way of appropriating culture” (2003:145). Several scholars have
pointed out that even positive stereotypes perpetuate erroneous and detrimental
assumptions about the Other (Waldron and Newton 2012). Alice Beck Kehoe
(2000) has argued that New Age and neoshamanism appropriation misrepresent
or dilute indigenous practices and subtly reinforce racist ideas such as the
Noble Savage image.
Currently discourse on ayahuasca shamanism is going through a fascination
phase, possibly mainstreaming phase, which comes with its own perils. Many
celebrities are promoting ayahuasca and recommend it openly as a life changing
experience (Morris 2014). It has appeared in TV shows, on mainstream media,
and is touted as a possible cure for post-traumatic stress disorder (Escobedo 2014).
Naturally these media appearances omit certain aspects of ayahuasca shamanism
that are less “digestible,” like sorcery. All this is understandable; considering the
legal situation with these plants, even scholars researching ayahuasca are reluc-
tant to promote these negative aspects fearing a backlash.
Like other scholars, what I have observed among Western ayahuasca partic-
ipants is a tendency to reinforce stereotypes. Indigenous peoples are still per-
ceived as close to nature, wise, and spiritual and their traditions, most
importantly, are presented as endangered. However, indigenous peoples are criti-
cal of some of the seemingly “positive” representations in Western media that
they see as harmful. Jimmy Nelson’s (2013) exhibit and book Before They Pass
Away is an example of this, and the reactions of indigenous leaders are very tell-
ing. Davi Kopenawa, Yanomam€ o shaman and activist, was quoted to have said:

I saw the photos and I did not like them. This man only wants to force
his own ideas on the photos, to publish them in books and to show them
to everyone so that people will think he’s a great photographer. He does
whatever he wants with indigenous peoples. It is not true that indigenous
peoples are about to die out. We will be around for a long time, fighting
for our land, living in this world, and continuing to create our children.
[Vidal 2014]

Similar sentiments were echoed by Nixiwaka Yawanaw
a from Acre in Brazil

(Vidal 2014). What these examples show and what many westerners who are
looking for guidance or direction from indigenous cultures do not realize is
that indigenous peoples do not live in some harmonious state with nature
but are people embedded in larger struggles and face important challenges.
At the same time that indigenous activists are fighting to defend their terri-
tories and their way of life and many of them are murdered for doing so5
(Dearden 2015), westerners fascinated by shamanism flock to retreat centers
charging thousands of dollars with an incredible array of amenities to have
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166 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

“authentic” shamanic experiences and to connect to ancient spiritual tradi-

tions while healing themselves. Critics have called such forms of commer-
cialization and appropriation of indigenous knowledge for outsiders’ use as
“cultural imperialism” (Meyer and Royer 2001). Robert Wallis (2003) pointed
out that “neoshamans” tend to take knowledge from indigenous people and
not give something in return, which is true in certain cases. Often people
who commercialize ayahuasca and train westerners as shamans claim to have
permission from indigenous peoples to gain legitimacy. One such case came
to the spotlight recently when the Cof
an from the Colombian Amazon, from
whom the proprietor of an organization in Europe6 claimed had permission
to disseminate ayahuasca, issued a statement denouncing his activities, which
was supported by many academics (ICEERS 2015, Uribe 2015).
Besides cases of appropriation like the aforementioned, scholars have
warned about the ramifications of removing indigenous religious traditions
from their context. Vitebsky noted that New Age in its cosmopolitanism
“moves away from cosmology by dissolving the realm of the religious”
(2003:277). He also argues that while the New Age adopts certain elements
of indigenous knowledge such as shamanism, “its full implications are too
challenging even for radicals to accommodate” (Vitebsky 2003:293). Shaman-
ism, in this context, loses its cosmological significance. Notably, indigenous
healing systems aim to restore balance in the patient’s body, in their family,
and in their community. More recently shamanic revitalizations have become
about restoring identity, finding value in indigenous traditions, and restoring
dignity and well-being (Wright 2013; Langdon, this issue). Some indigenous
groups that did not traditionally use ayahuasca have also “appropriated” it
and used it to revitalize their cultures (Langdon and Santana de Rose 2012).
Is this use more legitimate because the appropriators are indigenous?
Based on my own observations in the Peruvian Amazon, current concerns
of indigenous communities in the area revolve around material survival, pro-
tection of indigenous territories, and dignity. At the same time that ayahuasca
shamanism has expanded globally and is used in a variety of settings and
reinvented as a healing and transformational tool for the New Age, some
indigenous communities around Iquitos have not used it in decades. During
a recent visit to a Cucama community in the Peruvian Amazon, I discovered
that there were no shamans in the community. They did not use nor culti-
vate ayahuasca. The only young man that was training to be a shaman was
doing so through dreams as there were no elders to teach him. The commu-
nity’s biggest concern was how to generate income by preserving their tradi-
tional knowledge and language and keeping their land intact through an
ecotourism project. It is entirely plausible that as shamanism is revitalized in
this community they might incorporate it into their ecotourism project and
use it to generate much needed income. On another visit to an indigenous
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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 167

school training indigenous bilingual teachers, I saw the need to not only revi-
talize indigenous languages but also to recover dignity for indigenous peoples
and revalorize their medicinal knowledge. Peru still struggles with racism and
a social and economic system in which indigenous peoples occupy the lower
strata (Gow 1994). This long history has left scars in urgent need of healing
before meaningful intercultural exchange can happen. In the meantime,
indigenous groups are working hard to teach new generations to be proud of
their heritage (Figure 2).
Meanwhile, there seems to be a lot of disagreement regarding the future of
ayahuasca use and who should be its legitimate “stewards.” A recent contro-
versy pertained to the goals of an NGO7 who aimed for a “safer and more
sustainable ayahuasca” (Wickerham et al. 2014). The NGO in question
aimed to create a certification system for ayahuasca centers—based on the
Fair Trade model—that would facilitate and promote safety. The original
goals of the NGO were related to the sustainability of the plants themselves,
but preliminary research revealed an array of issues, which led them to
expand their definition of sustainability. The data for this report came from
interviews with what they called local “stakeholders,” many of whom were
indigenous. Given the current demand for ayahuasca and that the vine takes
years to mature, the sustainability of the plants is a legitimate concern. Dur-
ing my numerous visits to Peru I have discussed this with people who cook
ayahuasca, and it is clear that most still buy the plants and that in most cases
it is unclear from where they come. It might also be realistic to say that tons
of ayahuasca are exported from Peru every year. Recently more centers make
a point of planting vines on their property, but it will take years before these

f i g u r e 2 . s i g n m a d e b y t h e s t u d e n t s at a l o c al b i l i n g ua l
t e a c h e r s c h o o l . i t r e a d s : “ do n’ t be o f f en ded w he n s om eo ne
calls you i nd ig en ous.”
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168 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

plants mature enough to satisfy their needs (Figure 3). Tracing the routes
and sources of the plants currently used is badly needed; coming up with
ways to secure plant supply and at the same time protect the forest more so.
In addition to plant sustainability, the report brought up safety concerns and
proposed the development of a set of “best practices” to which ayahuasca
retreat centers would then voluntarily adhere (Wickerham et al. 2014).
Health safety and sexual abuse were among the issues mentioned.
While it is true that projects like this derive from a capitalist framework,
for better or worse it is the structure within which we all have to operate,
including indigenous peoples who are struggling to find a dignified position
in it. Some of the criticisms, especially regarding their alarmist discourse dis-
seminated through social media, were fair. In addition, the scope of the
NGO’s goals was too broad, proposing to tackle too many issues, ones that
emerged during their preliminary research, but nevertheless, experts were
unconvinced that these were realistic. However, the NGO did argue that
more research was required and if in consequent stages they involved local
academics and utilized existing resources such as students and faculty from
local universities, worthwhile projects could have developed from this. Some
of the criticisms raised made less sense. The academics’ response underesti-
mated the safety concerns and overestimated the “community-based means of
regulation in the Amazon that already exist and function” (Rush et al. 2014).
They did not clarify what those means of regulation are, but, in my own
experience, the surge in ayahuasca tourism in the last decade has created a
rather chaotic state of affairs with little regulation, at least in Peru.
Another reason the NGO became so controversial among academics was
that in their report they spoke of including indigenous communities as
“stakeholders” and of developing sustainable ayahuasca tourism in those

f i g u r e 3 . p la n t i n g aya h uas c a v i n e at a l o c a l ayah ua s c a c e n te r .

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the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 169

communities (Rush et al. 2014). This was perceived as neoliberal discourse,

and they claimed that this would promote ayahuasca tourism. They specifi-
cally stated that “all ayahuasca practices have operated outside of a western
market-driven approach in the past, and that currently westerners are not the
only ayahuasca participants” (Rush et al. 2014). While the second part of this
statement is true, it is hard to defend the first one. Statements like this imply
that indigenous peoples have magically lived untouched by capitalism. As I
have shown, most indigenous peoples have been part of the global capitalist
system, and ayahuasca shamanism as we know it today has been directly
linked to the exploitative history of the last few centuries. From my observa-
tions in Peru, indigenous men are often employed in extractive economies
that not only destroy the environment on which they depend, but also
remove the men employed this way from their communities for months at a
time. Given how disruptive this is, it is not surprising that some are interested
in finding more sustainable ways to generate income. My understanding of
the controversy by talking to some of the parties involved was that the contro-
versial report was the result of preliminary research in areas of the Peruvian
Amazon during which indigenous communities were consulted and
expressed an interest in capitalizing on ayahuasca tourism. Some have
already argued that tourism can help preserve indigenous cultures, especially
in the context of ecotourism managed by indigenous people (Zografos and
Kenrick 2005). The commercialization of ayahuasca is something that is
already happening at an alarming rate, and it has forever changed the local
“landscape,” although until now mostly foreign proprietors with enough capi-
tal have benefited from it. If entire communities were involved in tourism to
generate income for the community instead of individual shamans partnering
with foreigners, there would be more potential for growth as opposed to what
has been happening in the last decades. It seems though that commercializa-
tion creates uneasiness if done by indigenous peoples. Cases like this make
me concerned that even among academics there are degrees of essentializing
indigenous peoples, and some of us might even assume that we know what
is good or proper for them better than they do.
This controversy made me realize that sometimes indigenous peoples’
agency might make them seem unscrupulous or worse in the eyes of certain
Others. It reminded me of the Brazilian government official in the documen-
tary “At the Edge of Conquest” (O’Connor 1992) who tells the Waiapi, who
are trying to navigate the Brazilian bureaucracy to protect their land from
miners, that it would be detrimental to their cause to take things into their
own hands and commit any violence against the miners. He advises them to
remain victims to advance their cause. I wonder whether the same sentiment
is echoed when people, including academics, are alarmed when indigenous
peoples even speak of commercializing ayahuasca. It might be perceived as
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170 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

compromising authenticity or, as often is the case, it is used as justification

by outsiders who might be commercializing ayahuasca themselves. Indige-
nous peoples often find themselves in the impossible position in which they
can only “win” if they conform to stereotypes. I concur with David Waldron
and Janice Newton when they say that “romanticism damages empathetic
and solid relationships between differing cultures, exaggerating otherness and
hindering appreciation of commonalities and issues confronting actual
Indigenous peoples” (2012:78), and I wonder whether academics are as unaf-
fected by romanticism as we consider ourselves to be.

&

conclusion
When indigenous knowledge is appropriated, it takes on the fragmentary nat-
ure of our society (Vitebsky 2003:296). As I have shown, global culture seems
unable to capture the holistic nature of indigenous knowledge because there
is a lack of context for belief and application. I caution that this might con-
tribute to the further marginalization of indigenous knowledge, something
that should be taken seriously. Although westerners are having meaningful
and transformative experiences, positive stereotyping is still problematic and
there is the real danger of the erasure of indigenous peoples’ plights and
injustices against them. The history of shamanism in Amazonia, including its
recent “appropriation” by indigenous groups, indicates that contemporary aya-
huasca shamanism is a response to external forces and an exploitative history.
Westerners who want to have a more meaningful exchange with the tradi-
tions they admire should also keep in mind that they are engaging with these
traditions from a position of privilege. Disenfranchised Peruvians, indigenous,
or mestizos have a narrower range of choices and often shamanic tourism is
the most lucrative or more reasonable source of income at a time when their
land and resources are stripped away. Even though shamanic tourism is a
complex phenomenon, in this paper I chose to focus on the aspect of stereo-
typing that is still plaguing much discourse around shamanism. The question
is no longer whether capitalism will touch indigenous people; the question is
how and in what terms. Considering what is at stake, we might want to envi-
sion and work toward ways that indigenous communities can participate in a
capitalist system, if they wish to do so, without jeopardizing their collective
well-being.
I hope that my musings can rekindle a conversation that has been going
on in academia for years. As Brown has eloquently said “anthropologists can-
not play a constructive role in fostering higher levels of cultural sensitivity by
self-righteously denouncing ‘the appropriation of beliefs’ and pillorying
Indian wannabes and other New Agers as postcolonial exploiters” (1994:13).
 15563537, 2016, 2, Downloaded from https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anoc.12056 by Arctic University of Norway - UIT Tromso, Wiley Online Library on [14/10/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
the globalization of ayahuasca shamanism 171

Given the history of shamanism in the West and in light of the recent
debates I discussed, I hope to see both academic and popular discourse move
away from stereotyping into more meaningful intercultural dialogue between
equals.

&

acknowledgments
Versions of this article were presented at the International Society for Aca-
demic Research on Shamanism (ISARS) 2015 meeting at Delphi, Greece
and at the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Cul-
ture (ISSRNC) 2016 meeting in Gainsville, FL. I thank the colleagues who
offered feedback and constructive conversation at both meetings. I also offer
my gratitude to Christina Callicott for the invitation to the ISSRNC and my
fellow panelists at both meetings.

&

notes
1 Neoshamanism is defined as “a form of shamanism that has been created at the
end of the 20th century to reestablish a link for modern man to his spiritual roots,
to reintroduce shamanic behavior into the lives of westerners in search of spiritual-
ity and, thereby, renew contact with nature” (Jakobsen 1999:xi).
2 Gow goes as far as saying that ayahuasca shamanism has evolved in urban centers
in the last few hundred years and has been introduced to isolated indigenous peo-
ples (1994:91), a provocative claim that nevertheless deserves serious consideration
given the history of the region.
3 One such example is that of the Piro or Yine who have been dispersed to different
Peruvian locations and their history has been irrevocably changed (see Gow 1991;
Gow 1994; Gow 2001).
4 The ayahuasca diet entails abstaining from a number of things, including salt,
spices, fat, pork, red meat, and sex.
5 As I write these lines, news of the murder of Lenca indigenous activist Berta
C
aceres in Honduras (Watts 2016a) along with news of the violent clashes with
police that followed (Watts 2016b) are flooding the Internet. Other indigenous acti-
vists including Davi Kopenawa have received threats on their lives (BBC News
2014).
6 http://www.albertojosevarela.com/. Accessed May 31, 2016.
7 http://www.ethnobotanicalcouncil.org/. Accessed May 31, 2016
 15563537, 2016, 2, Downloaded from https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anoc.12056 by Arctic University of Norway - UIT Tromso, Wiley Online Library on [14/10/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
172 anthropology of consciousness 27.2

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