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The global expansion of ayahuasca through the Internet

Matthew S. Conrad

February 15, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315227955-6 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper
Topics Ayahuasca
Citations 4
Key points Argues that the Internet has been instrumental to ayahuasca's globalization by facilitating information sharing, commodity dissemination, and social networks across disparate locations and cultures.

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of ayahuasca's presence on the Internet. It assesses a variety of online spaces through which information and cultural products are promoted and disseminated, in order to assess the Internet's role in the current global expansion of ayahuasca. It is argued that the Internet has been instrumental to ayahuasca's globalization due its capacity to facilitate the sharing of information and the dissemination of commodities, as well as the development of social networks across vastly disparate geographical locations and cultural groups. Website formats which enable collective discussion and encourage the relatively liberated negotiation of ideas and opinions have significantly influenced the way in which Peruvian vegetalismo has been re-invented, especially within Western individualistic and consumer contexts. Furthermore, the sharing of information pertaining to ayahuasca analogues used within psychonautic contexts, as well as the promotion and sale of ayahuasca-related commodities on the Internet, such as healing retreats, artworks, books, and the plants themselves, have also greatly expanded the worldwide interest in and accessibility of the entheogen and its related practices. Issues of cultural appropriation, representation, and ownership emerge as important features of ayahuasca's globalization on the Internet, with novel concepts and practices eventually feeding back into local contexts through offline practice in the tourism setting. The democratized nature of (mis)information sharing on the Internet also poses potential health concerns and constitutes a significant policy issue for governments and other organizations that seek to influence public perception of the entheogen.

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

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Cited by 3

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