Primitivist medicine and capitalist anxieties in ayahuasca tourism Peru
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute – February 24, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Ayahuasca tourism in Peru reveals a striking paradox: while tourists seek authentic healing experiences, their presence inadvertently fuels local sorcery practices tied to economic gain. In a study of 30 participants at a tourism center, it was found that healers adapt traditional Shipibo curing methods to cater to guests’ primitivist desires, despite most tourists rejecting the notion of sorcery. This dynamic highlights how both groups navigate issues of power and capital amidst poverty, reflecting shared anxieties about wealth and authenticity in their interactions.
Abstract
Abstract Analysing healing practices at an ayahuasca tourism centre in Peru, this article illustrates how Shipibo practices of curing and sorcery have adapted to the demands of international clients searching for primitivist healing experiences. At the core of this adaption is the thorny issue of occult power and its relation to capital accumulation. Sorcery here does not serve clients but is manifest among healers working to capitalize on the guests’ primitivist rejections of modern life while operating in environments of economic scarcity and ambient poverty. Ayahuasca tourists do not request and generally do not believe in sorcery, but their very presence generates and negates the local moral economy of sorcery in novel ways. The article explores a paradoxical aspect of ayahuasca tourism wherein guests purge similar anxious desires for capital accumulation that healers achieve when curing them.