With the rapid emergence of ever more diverse forms of cultural tourism, sacred indigenous practices around the world are increasingly becoming part of the repertoire of experiences available in the global travel market. Particularly, the growing tourist use of sacred plants with psychoactive properties in shamanic contexts is a sensitive issue that is still under-researched. By implementing an ethnographic case study approach in the Mazatec town of Huautla de Jimenez (HDJ), Mexico, this study analyses the effects of the touristic commodification of sacred-plant ceremonies in the social capital of indigenous communities. Findings reveal that tensions and disputes based on differing aspirations between traditionalists and modernists residents of HDJ have emerged as a result of the commodification of sacred-mushroom rituals or veladas. The lack of trust relations among local stakeholders diminishes the collective capacity to implement community-based initiatives of cultural heritage conservation and sustainable tourism development, which is indicative of a fractured social capital. Although the effects of neo-shamanic tourism in HDJ match those of more traditional forms of tourism in rural and indigenous settings, the case study of HDJ exemplifies how the touristic commodification of culture has reached the most sacred and intimate cultural practices in the most remote corners of the world. Findings are placed on a global context to enhance a holistic understanding of how touristic commodification of intangible cultural heritage affects structural relations of social capital in destination communities.

In this document we showed how a new flow of tourists is arriving in Mexico at alarmingly high rates to experience novel encounters of consumption of psychadelic plants and substances in the tourist industry, despite the lack of a proper organisational structure of tourism, health and safety. We analyse the type of tourists who engages in this activity, using qyualitative research based on interviews with local people in 2016. The results are intereting from the perspective of the immense increase in the peoplef desirous of these new experiences that are offered by the indigenous people.

Pese al papel fundamental que desempeñan los hongos psilocibios en la medicina tradicional indígena de México desde tiempos inmemoriales, su desatención institucional y su condición de ilegalidad imposibilita el despliegue de esquemas de conservación, investigación y aprovechamiento de este recurso biocultural endógeno. Partiendo del paradigma conceptual de la bioculturalidad y desde el enfoque socioterritorial del desarrollo local, el presente artículo plantea una discusión sobre el potencial de los hongos psilocibios para constituirse como patrimonio biocultural de México y favorecer el desarrollo local en la Sierra Mazateca de Oaxaca. El artículo se fundamenta metodológicamente en una investigación documental y etnográfica para destacar el valor biocultural y el potencial terapéutico de los hongos psilocibios a fin de proponer su reconocimiento institucional y científico en el ámbito nacional. Los resultados indican que la comunidad mazateca reconoce el potencial endógeno de los hongos psilocibios y favorece su uso turístico. No obstante, la ausencia de capacidades comunitarias para la cooperación cohesiva inhibe la articulación de estrategias regionales de conservación y desarrollo. La reflexión final propone que la dinamización de las plantas visionarias por medio de esquemas de conservación biocultural y aprovechamiento turístico responsable puede contribuir a la mitigación de la pobreza en regiones indígenas.

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