Ayahuasca’s Attractions and Distractions
Oxford University Press eBooks June 18, 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341191.003.0011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ayahuasca |
| Keywords | Tourism Perspectivism |
| Citations | 13 |
| Key points | Argues that ayahuasca tourism in Puerto Maldonado raises local concerns about the proliferation of unqualified ayahuasqueros, ritual sanitization, and the discounting of malevolence and conflict, while also sparking debates about gender and sexuality. |
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.
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 6
- 'Everybody's creating it along the way': ethical tensions among globalized ayahuasca shamanisms and therapeutic integration practices. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 2023
- Reflections on crafting an ayahuasca community guide for the awareness of sexual abuse Journal of Psychedelic Studies February 20, 2020
- Psychedelic Therapist Sexual Misconduct and Other Adverse Experiences Among a Sample of Naturalistic Psychedelic Users. Psychedelic Medicine March 1, 2025
- Ayahuasca Calling: Sacredness and the Emergence of Shamanic Vocations in Denmark and Peru Anthropology of Consciousness August 9, 2022
- Ayahuasca ceremonies: set and setting features across Italy and Colombia Drugs, Habits and Social Policy October 12, 2023
and 1 more in the library