Does pharmacology corroborate the nicotine therapy and practices of South American shamanism?
J Wilbert
Journal of Ethnopharmacology April 1991 DOI: 10.1016/0378-8741(91)90115-t (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | South American Indian societies (nearly 300 societies documented in the ethnographic literature) |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key findings | Argues that South American Indian tobacco use is closely tied to shamanism, with ritual application aiming at acute nicotine intoxication and pharmacological effects informing shamanic therapeutic practices and beliefs. Contends that because tobacco use is more recent than shamanism, religion did not originate from the drug but instead informed the interpretation of the drug's effects. |
Abstract
The use of tobacco by South American Indians is deeply rooted in their culture and thought. From early pre-Columbian times to the present, tobacco has functioned as an important psychotropic drug for magico-religious, medicinal and recreational purposes. Native interest in tobacco centers on the nicotine alkaloid it contains. Data culled from about 1800 sources and pertaining to nearly 300 societies reveal that South American Indians employ six major and several minor means of nicotine application. There exists a close functional relationship between tobacco and shamanism. The empirical ethnographical data base of nicotine application is compared to the comprehensive literature of experimental clinical studies of tobacco and nicotine. Ritual tobacco use aims to achieve acute nicotine intoxication. The pharmacological effects of the alkaloid on the human body are shown to have informed shamanic therapeutic practices and beliefs. Closely associated with soil cultivation, tobacco use in the New World is much more recent than shamanism. Thus, it is not the drug that gave origin to shamanic religion but religion that informed the effects of the drug.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 36 |
| Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... | 2019 | Ethnography with literature review | n = 227 |
| The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru | 2016 | Ethnography | |
| Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin | 1992 | Ethnographic review and analysis | |
| Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru | 2012 | Ethnography |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- Traditional medicine applied by the Saraguro yachakkuna: a preliminary approach to the use of sacred and psychoactive plant species in the southern region of Ecuador. Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine February 24, 2014
- “Tobacco Is the Chief Medicinal Plant in My Work”: Therapeutic Uses of Tobacco in Peruvian Amazonian Medicine Exemplified by the Work of a Maestro Tabaquero Frontiers in Pharmacology October 7, 2020
- Fast and Slow Metabolizers ofHoasca Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005
- Psychedelic sacraments Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 2005
- Amazonian Medicine and the Psychedelic Revival: Considering the “Dieta” Frontiers in Pharmacology May 28, 2021
and 2 more in the library