Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond: (Oxford Ritual Studies)

Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar offer an in-depth exploration of how Amerindian epistemology and ontology concerning indigenous shamanic rituals of the Amazon have spread to Western societies, and of how indigenous, mestizo, and cosmopolitan cultures have engaged with and transformed these forest traditions. The volume focuses on the use of ayahuasca, a psychoactive drink essential in many indigenous shamanic rituals of the Amazon. Ayahuasca use has spread to countries far beyond its Amazonian origin, spurring a wide variety of legal and cultural responses. The essays in this volume look at how these responses have influenced ritual design and performance in traditional and non-traditional contexts, how displaced indigenous people and rubber tappers are engaged in the creative reinvention of rituals, and how these rituals help build ethnic alliances and cultural and political strategies. These essays explore important classic and contemporary issues in anthropology, including the relationship between the expansion of ecotourism and ethnic tourism and recent indigenous cultural revival and the emergence of new ethnic identities. The volume also examines trends in the commodification of indigenous cultures in post-colonial contexts, the combination of shamanism with a network of health and spiritually related services, and identity hybridization in global societies. The rich ethnographies and extensive analysis of these essays will allow deeper understanding of the role of ritual in mediating the encounter between indigenous traditions and modern societies.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Contributors List of Illustrations Foreword: Authentic Ayahuasca by Oscar Calavia Saéz Introduction: Notes on the Expansion and Reinvention of Ayahuasca Shamanism - Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Clancy Cavnar, and Françoise Barbira Freedman 1. Will the Real Shaman Please Stand Up? The Recent Adoption of Ayahuasca among Indigenous Groups of the Peruvian Amazon - Glenn H. Shepard Jr. 2. Kuntanawa: Ayahuasca, Ethnicity, and Culture - Mariana Ciavatta Pantoja 3. Materializing Alliances: Ayahuasca Shamanism In and Beyond Western Amazonian Indigenous Communities - Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen 4. Medicine Alliance: Contemporary Shamanic Networks in Brazil - Esther Jean Langdon and Isabel Santana de Rose 5. Ritualized Misunderstanding between Uncertainty, Agreement and Rupture: Communication Patterns in Euro-American Ayahuasca Ritual Interactions - Anne-Marie Losonczy and Silvia Mesturini Cappo 6. Shamans' Networks in Western Amazonia: The Iquitos-Nauta Road - Françoise Barbira Freedman 7. On the Uneasiness of Tourism: Considerations on Shamanic Tourism in Western Amazonia - Evgenia Fotiou 8. The Internationalization of Peruvian Vegetalismo - Beatriz Caiuby Labate 9. From the Native's Point of View: How Shipibo-Konibo Experience and Interpret Ayahuasca-Drinking with ''Gringos'' - Bernd Brabec de Mori 10. Ayahuasca's Attractions and Distractions: Examining Sexual Seduction in Shaman-Participant Interactions - Daniela Peluso 11. Yage Related Neo-Shamanism in Colombian Urban Contexts - Alhena Caicedo Fernández Index

About the Author :
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, PhD, is Visiting Professor, Center for Research and Post Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). Clancy Cavnar, PsyD, is Research Associate of the Nucleus for Interdisciplinary Studies of Psychoactives (NEIP).

Review :
"This book is a welcome addition for those interested in the use of ayahuasca in the Amazon and beyond, for both anthropologists and those with an interest in ayahuasca in general. Highly recommended."--OPEN Foundation "An in-depth exploration...The rich ethnographies and extensive analysis of these essays will allow deeper understanding of the role of ritual in mediating the encounter between indigenous traditions and modern societies."--Gaia Media "This book presents the encounter between Amazonian and modern worlds through the account of the recent phenomenon of expansion of shamanistic rituals based on the consumption of ayahuasca. Reinvention and transformation of religious traditions, ethnic and ecological tourism, debates on intellectual property and on legalization of psychoactive substances feature among the topics which make up this brilliant collection." --Renato Sztutman, University of São Paulo "Much has been written about ayahuasca and shamanism, but this book will certainly stand out because it is problem-oriented and includes a fascinating array of chapters by leading experts of different backgrounds. It therefore promises to be an important contribution to religious anthropology rather than yet another instance of mystical mumbo-jumbo." --Philipe Erikson, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre "This volume unravels the complex meanders of intellectual and practical exchanges in a time when Amazonia goes global and the world goes Amazonian." --Aristoteles Barcelos Neto, University of East Anglia