Editorial
Fieldwork in Religion – November 27, 2008
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Ayahuasca religions in Brazil, such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal, blend diverse spiritual traditions, including Catholicism and Amazonian Shamanism. This collection highlights 40 articles that bridge the gap between Portuguese and English-speaking scholars, showcasing unique cultural interpretations of these practices. Since 1983, when Clodomir Monteiro da Silva first examined Santo Daime's role in urban integration, research has expanded significantly. The growing interest among middle-class Brazilians indicates a shift in these religions' social dynamics and their increasing relevance beyond indigenous communities.
Abstract
This issue of Fieldwork in Religion is comprised of original and translated articles about a collection of related Brazilian religions that all utilize the consciousness changing substance named ayahuasca.The ayahuasca religions have been the object of systematic research in Brazil at least since 1983 when Clodomir Monteiro da Silva presented his MA dissertation on the role played by the Santo Daime in integrating migrant rubber tappers in the urban environment of Rio Branco in the Amazonian state of Acre.Since then, as Labate's article shows, there has been a great deal of new research done and much has been printed in Brazil and other countries on the subject.Although Brazil has a good output of research in the social sciences and considerable production in the study of religion, it is very difficult to surmount the language barrier and get articles originally written in Portuguese edited in other more widely-read languages.The idea of this collection has been to allow a greater interchange among scholars working in this field, as well as revealing to the general English-reading public the singular meanings these religious manifestations take on in the Brazilian context, which may be quite different from those ascribed to them in the many other countries where the rituals of the ayahuasca religions have been recently introduced.This special edition on Brazilian ayahuasca religions introduces the Englishreading public to an ongoing discussion that has until now been occurring mainly among Portuguese speaking anthropologists.It presents research related to the three largest Brazilian religions which make sacramental use of ayahuasca (a psychoactive beverage originally used by indigenous groups)-Santo Daime (with its two main denominations, Alto Santo and Cefluris), Barquinha and União do Vegetal.During the twentieth century these eclectic religions have woven together strands of popular Catholicism, Amazonian Shamanism, Spiritism, European Esotericism and Afro-Brazilian religiosity.These elements are combined within Brazil's ayahuasca religions to form a rich pattern which, after playing an important part in the settlement of Amazonian frontier lands, has now been taken up by the middle classes in