Heritage Appropriation and Commoditized Spirituality: Q’ero Mysticism & Andean New Age Healing
Melody J. Devries
NEXUS The Canadian Student Journal of Anthropology July 4, 2015 DOI: 10.15173/nexus.v23i1.958 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that spiritual tourism in the Peruvian Andes, exemplified by the Paz Y Luz Healing Centre, is a living relic of colonialism that appropriates and commodifies Andean mysticism. It contends that this process dilutes the cultural and spiritual heritage of peoples like the Q'ero for tourist consumption, as tourists use the gaze and its created 'other' to validate their own constructions of spiritual realities. |
Abstract
With the onset of 2015, globalization is perhaps one of the most dynamic issues concerning the social sciences. It is critical to map all fields of the human/cultural experience that are susceptible to manifestations of globalization in the growing international tourism industry. In this study I have focused on the evolution of the Peruvian Andean highlands’ massive tourist industry, including a specific analysis on the Paz Y Luz Healing Centre, in order to address spiritual tourism and its appropriation and commodification processes. In my exploration of Andean mysticism and the concept’s effect on local cultural heritage, I have found it essential to consult Foucauldian understandings of the gaze, as well as several other perspectives on the role of ritual elements in the construction of spiritual realities. Subsequently I have been led to perhaps a predictable conclusion: spiritual tourism is a living relic of colonialism. It dilutes the cultural and spiritual heritage of peoples like the Q’ero for consumption by tourists, who use the gaze and its created ‘other’ to validate their own construction of spiritual realities.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |