The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism

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.

The ayahuasca tourism boom: An undervalued demand driver for jaguar body parts?

“…Each year, thousands of ayahuasca tourists travel to Peru, generating significant revenue for retreat centers that administer the brew (Fotiou, ). For example, a 2015 study found that in Iquitos, Peru's largest Amazonian city, 10 of the 40 largest retreats generated over USD 6.5 million annually (Álvarez, ).…”

Shamanic Tourism in the Peruvian Lowlands: Critical and Ethical Considerations

“…The idea that the individual is responsible for their own healing is central—it is often said that “everyone is their own shaman”—although healing by intervention of spirits is often reported as well. This focus on healing has led to the sanitization of Amazonian shamanism from its darker aspects, such as sorcery (Fotiou 2010b, 2016).…”

Ayahuasca Ethno-tourism and its Impact on the Indigenous Shuar Community (Ecuador) and Western Participants

“…This has resulted in the idealisation of shamanic practices. This contemporary idealisation of shamanism has a connection to European romanticisms and American transcendentalisms and their vocalisations of interest in mysterious and spiritual aspects of living (Fotiou 2016).…”

“…However, this is a western use of the originally north Asian, probably Tungusian, term saman, šaman, or xaman (Mongol: šaman, Turkish: kam, xam) for a different region (for the etymology of the word shaman, see Laufer 1917). It has been noted by various authors that this use is also associated with the problematic stereotyping of a shaman's image, for example, its idealisation and promotion as a universal practice regardless of its cultural and temporal context (on stereotypes, see, for example, Wernitznig 2003;Fotiou 2016). One of the rites said by the Shuar to be an ancient practice is Natemamu.…”