Ayahuasca’s Attractions and Distractions

Ayahuasca tourism in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, and its surroundings creates complex local predicaments. Local and global narratives reveal tensions around the proliferation of ayahuasqueros (practitioners), the sanitization of rituals, and the downplaying of malevolence and conflict. Amerindian epistemologies and perspectivism help analyze interactions between shamans and participants, as well as the roles of intermediaries and authorities. Gender relations between shamans and local and nonlocal participants spark debates about sex and sexuality among locals and online audiences. The adoption and reinvention of ayahuasca rituals reflect ongoing challenges and experiences in contemporary ayahuasca usage.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the predicaments of ayahuasca tourism in Puerto Maldonado, a regional Amazonian capital (Peru) and its environs, as a contribution toward understanding how ayahuasca tourism affects the localities in which such encounters take place. Through an analysis of local and global narratives, the chapter engages with Amerindian epistemologies and perspectivism to examine local concerns and interactions between shamans and ayahuasca participants regarding the recent proliferation of ayahuasqueros, the sanitization of rituals, the discounting of the potential role of malevolence and conflict, and the positioning of various intermediaries and authorities. The chapter also explores gender relations between shamans and local and nonlocal participants and the resultant ensuing debates about sex and sexuality as discussed among locals and by larger Internet-based audiences. In these contexts, the adoption and reinvention of ayahuasca rituals is examined as part of the ongoing challenges and experiences that contemporary ayahuasca usage undergoes.