The 'enigma' of Richard Schultes, Amazonian hallucinogenic plants, and the limits of ethnobotany.
Social Studies of Science June 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1177/0306312720920362 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ayahuasca |
| Keywords | Amazonia Richard evans schultes Richard spruce Ethnobotany Hallucinogen Psychedelic Taxonomy |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key points | Argues that Schultes's enigma about distinguishing ayahuasca vine varieties traces the limits of ethnobotany and reveals the fragility of scientific categories like 'nature' and 'culture'. |
Abstract
This story is about the twentieth-century ethnobotanist, Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001), and his research on hallucinogenic plants. Ethnobotany can contribute directly to science and technology studies in that the discipline makes cultural ways of knowing its scientific subject. Ethnobotanists must learn about plants through people, and are not able to conceal their interactions with indigenous informants and other ethnobotanists. I focus on an 'enigma' that Schultes presented, concerning the peculiar ability of indigenous Amazonians to distinguish between local varieties of vine that he was unable to tell apart, notably those used to prepare the hallucinogenic beverage ayahuasca. The enigma describes a complicated and irresolvable question thrown up at the uneasy intersection between different ways of knowing about the world, and shows how modern scientific travellers might navigate - or fail to navigate - the uncertain passage between them. Together with Schultes's accounts of his own non-ordinary states of consciousness elicited by ayahuasca, and his writings on the Victorian botanist Richard Spruce, I chart an epistemological gulf between Schultes's modern scientific cosmology and that of his Amazonian informants. In describing his inability to learn about the ayahuasca varieties from Amazonians, Schultes's enigma traces the very limits of the ethnobotanical discipline and reveals the fragility of the processes by which scientific naturalists might impose categories such as 'nature' and 'culture'.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on ayahuasca, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The globalization of ayahuasca: Harm reduction or benefit maximization? | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Towards psychedelic apprenticeship: Developing a gentle touch for the mediation and validation of psychedelic-induced insights and revelations. | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Ayahuasca healing beyond the Amazon: the globalization of a traditional indigenous entheogenic practice | 2008 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- Decolonization is a metaphor towards a different ethic. The case from psychedelic studies Interdisciplinary Science Reviews September 27, 2022
- Towards culturally inclusive healthcare in Peru: Mapping epistemic concepts in contemporary Indigenous Amazonian medicine-Traditional healers' perspectives. PLOS global public health 2025
- Position of the Ceremony with the Psychedelic Drink Ayahuasca in the Society of the Amero-Indians of the Amazon IntechOpen eBooks December 11, 2023
- The DEA report on ayahuasca risks: “Science” in service of prohibition? Journal of Psychedelic Studies June 9, 2023
- Psilocybin in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Seeking Valuable Evidence in History, Pure Science, Clinical Trials and Real-World Data (RWD). Brain Sciences March 26, 2026
and 2 more in the library
Cites 4
- The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002
- One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest Leonardo 1998
- Hyperbolic: Divining Ayahuasca Discourse December 1, 2005
- Evolution of the Identification of the Major South American Narcotic Plants Botanical Museum leaflets Harvard University 1978