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Interpellations and challenges in the neoshamanic and ayahuasca fields in Uruguay

Juan Scuro

February 15, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315227955-2 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper
Topics Ayahuasca Shamanism
Citations 10
Key points Argues that neoshamanic practices in Uruguay both reaffirm and break down national stereotypes, and that ayahuasca's legal and social status differs from that of cannabis despite both being psychoactive substances.

Abstract

Since the 1990s, three major (neo)shamanic linages associated with sacred plants use have arrived in Uruguay. Each one comes from a particular Latin American national context: Brazil and its ayahuasca religions, Peru and vegetalismo, Mexico and the Red Path. In what way do these practices and discourses develop in a Latin American country imagined as "white," "without indigenous people," and "secular," such as Uruguay? To what extent do the incorporation of these neoshamanic practices question the hegemonic narratives of the state-nation? National stereotypes come into play, with neoshamanisms being both product and producers of these processes of reaffirmation and the breaking down of stereotypes. In this chapter, the author briefly describes the arrival of these practices to Uruguay, their specificities and adaptation, and the different relations they established, particularly regarding the use of indigenous spiritualties and sacred plants as therapeutically alternatives. The author also analyzes the legal and social status of ayahuasca (associated with ritual and spiritual uses) in Uruguay, where the medicinal, industrial, and recreational use of cannabis has recently been legalized. Which similarities and differences, dialogues and tensions, exist between use of these two psychoactive substances in the Uruguayan context?

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond 2014 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology 2004 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California 1998 Theoretical or philosophical paper
From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press 2020 Historical analysis
Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation 2010 Reflective essay or personal narrative

Citations in the library

Cited by 4

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Ayahuasca Shamanism Cannabis