Brazilian Ayahuasca religions in perspective
OpenAlex – April 08, 2016
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Ayahuasca, known locally as Hoasca, plays a significant role in the lives of urban Brazilian participants of Unio do Vegetal (UDV). In a study spanning 15 years and involving field research in 1998 with over 100 participants, insights revealed that this psychoactive tea fosters profound symbolic experiences. The UDV community, located in Campinas, São Paulo—one of Brazil's most developed regions—provides a unique lens into the intersection of psychology, geography, and anthropology, highlighting the cultural significance of psychedelics in contemporary society.
Abstract
The author focuses on the anthropological observation of Unio do Vegetal (UDV), which he started 15 years ago and continues up to the present, as well as on field research that he carried out in 1998 in the UDV unit called Nucleus Alto das Cordilheiras, in Campinas. It was the basis of author's Master's thesis in social anthropology the city of Campinas is situated in the State of Sao Paulo, southeast of Brazil, in one of the country's most economically developed and industrialized regions. The author seeks to reach an interpretation of the symbolic experience of the urban Brazilian participants of the UDV. Hoasca is the name given by the participants of UDV to ayahuasca, simply named 'the Vegetal', a tea with psychoactive properties made from the concoction of the leaves of Psychotria viridis, which they call chacrona, with the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, known as mariri.