Altered vision: Ayahuasca shamanism and sensory individualism
Alex K. Gearin, Óscar Calavia Sáez
Current Anthropology April 1, 2021 DOI: 10.1086/713737 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ayahuasca Shamanism |
| Citations | 15 |
| Key points | Argues that ayahuasca vision serves as a marker of divergent forms of individualism among indigenous Amazonian and Australian neoshamanic groups, with neoshamanic practice reproducing European Enlightenment modes of property ownership. |
Abstract
Notions of visualism and individualism have long been employed to elucidate the contours of Western subjectivity. It is therefore not surprising to find the indigenous Amazonian shamanic brew ayahuasca being adopted by Australian neoshamanic practitioners as a medicine that provides personalized visions delivering unambiguous moral import. While this adoption represents a radically new style of its practice, ayahuasca drinking emerged from indigenous societies characterized by robust forms of individualism and visualism of a different kind. Indigenous approaches to ayahuasca drinking have emphasized synesthetic and socially partible configurations of personhood while entangling the visionary content of inebriation in a morally ambiguous field of everyday life. In this article, we argue that the individual of ayahuasca neoshamanism reproduces European Enlightenment modes of property ownership by integrating visions into the self as inalienable objects of healing. The article illustrates how ayahuasca vision is a marker of divergent forms of individualism among indigenous Amazonian and Australian neoshamanic groups.
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 10
- Psychedelic medicalization, public discourse, and the morality of ego dissolution International Journal of Cultural Studies June 9, 2021
- The Power of Social Attribution: Perspectives on the Healing Efficacy of Ayahuasca Frontiers in Psychology October 28, 2021
- Primitivist medicine and capitalist anxieties in ayahuasca tourism Peru Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute February 24, 2022
- Moving beyond a figurative psychedelic literacy: Metaphors of psychiatric symptoms in ayahuasca narratives. Social Science & Medicine October 1, 2023
- Mystical and Ego-Dissolution Experiences in Ayahuasca and Jurema Holistic Rituals: An Exploratory Study International Journal for the Psychology of Religion April 13, 2023
and 5 more in the library
Cites 18
- The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002
- The globalization of ayahuasca: Harm reduction or benefit maximization? International Journal of Drug Policy December 5, 2006
- Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond Oxford University Press eBooks June 18, 2014
- Drug Tourism or Spiritual Healing? Ayahuasca Seekers in Amazonia Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005
- Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Social Science & Medicine August 31, 2019
and 13 more in the library