Frontiers in Pharmacology
July 22, 2022
Leor Roseman, Katrin H. Preller, Evgenia Fotiou et al.
15 citations
The heralded psychedelic renaissance is currently at a new level where psychedelics are being accepted by the scientific community and the public. Medicalization and the ongoing introduction of market forces are imposing a trend in which psychedelic treatments are reduced to focus into strictly pharmacological and psychological effects on the self, rather than interactions with broader social...
Anthropology of Consciousness
September 1, 2020
Evgenia Fotiou
22 citations
Abstract In this article, I discuss how ritual is framed in the context of ayahuasca tourism, using ethnographic data collected in and around Iquitos, Peru. Alluding to a lack of socially sanctioned spaces for altered states of consciousness (ASCs) in western cultures, contemporary seekers flock to the Amazon to participate in ayahuasca ceremonies for an array of reasons, including healing and...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
December 13, 2019
Evgenia Fotiou
83 citations
This paper reflects on potential contributions from anthropology to the field of “psychedelic science.” Although the discipline’s beginnings went hand in hand with colonialism, it has made significant contributions to the understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems. Furthermore, recent calls to decolonize our theoretical frameworks and methodology, notably the “ontological turn,” open up the...
Social Science & Medicine
August 31, 2019
Evgenia Fotiou, Alex K. Gearin
86 citations
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant mixture used in ceremonial contexts throughout Western Amazonia. Its use has expanded globally in recent decades and become popular among westerners who travel to the Peruvian Amazon in increasing numbers to experience its reportedly healing effects. Through a review of relevant literature on Amazonian shamanism, combined with the authors' ethnographic data...
Anthropology of Consciousness
September 1, 2016
Evgenia Fotiou
84 citations
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...
Oxford University Press eBooks
June 18, 2014
Evgenia Fotiou
16 citations
Abstract This chapter examines the cultural constructions of ayahuasca and shamanism, their manifestations in the Western imagination and experience, and their localized experience in the city of Iquitos, Peru, in the context of the phenomenon of shamanic tourism. The chapter argues that shamanic tourism is not an anomaly but is consistent with the nature of shamanism, which has historically...
Anthropology of Consciousness
March 1, 2012
Evgenia Fotiou
44 citations
Abstract Healing is an essential aspect of A mazonian mestizo shamanism. Not only is it one of the most commonly quoted motives for W esterners for participating in ayahuasca ceremonies, but most elements of an ayahuasca ceremony are aimed to heal and protect. This article is purely ethnographic, and its purpose is to provide insight into the ways healing is conceived by both ayahuasqueros and...
Anthropology & Humanism
November 21, 2010
Evgenia Fotiou
21 citations
SUMMARY Drawing from data collected during fieldwork from Westerners participating in ayahuasca ceremonies in the Peruvian Amazon, I discuss the ways they make contact with spirits. I particularly focus on the issue of sorcery, illustrating differences in the ways it is perceived by Westerners and Peruvians. I argue that although it is possible that both populations have the same or very...