February 15, 2018
Alex K. Gearin, Beatriz Caiuby Labate
4 citations
Western ayahuasca drinkers adopt dietary and behavioral restrictions from indigenous Amazonian practices, but strip them of their original cosmological context. Indigenous dieting is embedded in systems of reciprocity and predation that regulate human-environment relations through shamanism. In Western neoshamanic settings—observed in Australia, the United States, and Peru—these restrictions become sanitized techniques aimed at individual psychological and spiritual growth, such as self-healing and personal development. The chapter contrasts indigenous food shamanism with Western explanatory models, including prescriptions to drink ayahuasca and the concept of "integration." This comparison reveals contradictions and limitations that arise when spiritual beliefs from radically different social, economic, and cosmological environments are appropriated and reinvented.
Ciências Sociais Unisinos
October 27, 2017
Glauber Loures de Assis, Beatriz Caiuby Labate
4 citations
The Barquinha, Santo Daime, and União do Vegetal—Brazilian ayahuasca religions founded in the 20th century—were confined to northern Brazil until the early 1970s. Since then, Santo Daime and União do Vegetal have expanded across Brazil and internationally, crossing borders and the Atlantic Ocean. Their internationalization involves complex transnational networks and alliances, raising questions about cultural translation and religious diaspora, yet the topic remains underexplored with fragmented scholarship. This article provides a critical literature review of the internationalization of these groups, including articles, theses, and legal texts in multiple languages. Using a comparative approach, it identifies key characteristics, trends, and gaps in ayahuasca studies, aiming to guide future research and highlight the interaction between psychedelics, religion, and culture.
Anthropology of Consciousness
March 1, 2010
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
4 citations
A recent international congress in the Peruvian Amazon brought together 218 researchers, indigenous representatives, and religious leaders from 22 countries to discuss the globalization and biomedicalization of indigenous medical practices, particularly ayahuasca-based therapy and religion. The event featured scientific discussions, political and ethical debates, and nonacademic sessions including Inca chiropractics and ayahuasca ceremonies. Tragic events in nearby Bagua, Peru, lent urgency to the congress's focus on indigenous cultural heritage. The author interviewed key attendees and reports on several controversies in the field of traditional medicine and ayahuasca.
Revista de Antropologia da UFSCar
December 1, 2009
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
3 citations
A reportagem de capa da Revista Isto É sobre o uso da ayahuasca no Brasil alega que o governo federal liberou a substância, permitindo desorganização, tráfico e mortes associadas ao "chá alucinógeno". Na verdade, a resolução do CONAD publicou o relatório final de um grupo multidisciplinar que estabeleceu regras éticas para o consumo da ayahuasca, não uma liberalização. O artigo analisa criticamente a reportagem, mostrando que ela não investiga o que anuncia, e conclui com reflexões sobre os dilemas do antropólogo diante da imprensa.
April 8, 2016
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Rafael Guimaraes Dos Santos, Brian Anderson et al.
2 citations
Ayahuasca, used ritually in South American religions such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal and in Amazonian rehabilitation centers, shows therapeutic potential for treating substance dependence. Anthropological and psychiatric data indicate that ritual ayahuasca use can aid healing from addiction. The chapter reviews evidence from these settings and discusses methodological, ethical, and political considerations for future research. It places current studies in the context of psychedelic and psycholytic therapies developed between the 1950s and 1970s, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary approaches to understand ayahuasca's role in dependence treatment.
Ponto Urbe
December 1, 2010
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
2 citations
In April 2010, the Legislative Assembly of Acre granted honorary citizenship to the founders of three ayahuasca religions: Raimundo Irineu Serra (Santo Daime), Daniel Pereira de Mattos (Barquinha), and José Gabriel da Costa (União do Vegetal). Three years earlier, in April 2008, these religious groups had petitioned the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage to recognize ayahuasca as Brazilian intangible cultural heritage. The text describes these official acts of recognition and the religious movements' efforts to preserve their cultural and spiritual traditions.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 9, 2023
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Anna O. Ermakova, Jordan Sloshower et al.
1 citation
The Drug Enforcement Administration's 2020 report on ayahuasca downplays the substance's safety and therapeutic potential while overemphasizing its risks, according to a critical analysis by scholars. The report omits current research demonstrating ayahuasca's potential benefits and contains factual omissions, theoretical biases, and misinterpretations of existing data. The critique was prompted by the DEA's 2023 disclosure of the report to the legal team of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor, following FOIA requests submitted two years earlier by the church and Chacruna Institute.
February 15, 2018
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Glauber Loures De Assis
1 citation
The Brazilian ayahuasca religions—Barquinha, Santo Daime, and União do Vegetal—originated in the twentieth century and were confined to northern Brazil until the early 1970s. Since then, Santo Daime and União do Vegetal have expanded across Brazil and internationally, crossing borders and the Atlantic Ocean. Their internationalization involves complex networks and transnational alliances, raising questions about cultural translation and religious diaspora. This chapter critically reviews the scattered academic literature—articles, theses, dissertations, and legal texts—on this process, using a comparative approach to identify characteristics, tendencies, and gaps in the field. It aims to serve as a guide for researchers and highlights the ayahuasca religions as a valuable locus for studying psychedelics, culture, language, and cognition.
February 15, 2018
Ilana Seltzer Goldstein, Beatriz Caiuby Labate
1 citation
The circulation of ayahuasca and Indigenous art in global urban networks shows the adaptability of Indigenous cultural practices, opening new possibilities for intercultural dialogue while raising issues of legality, intellectual property, and stereotyping. Installations by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto, created with varying degrees of participation by the Huni Kuin people of Acre, Brazil, draw on ayahuasca healing traditions. Since around 2000, Indigenous groups in Brazil have organized ayahuasca experiences for urban middle-class participants, and Indigenous artists have entered contemporary art spaces only recently, unlike in Australia, Canada, and the United States where this began in the 1990s. The chapter examines Neto's collaborations with the Huni Kuin to reflect on authenticity, cultural appropriation, and commoditization.
Fieldwork in Religion
November 27, 2008
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Edward Macrae
1 citation
This special issue of Fieldwork in Religion presents original and translated articles on Brazilian ayahuasca religions—Santo Daime, Barquinha, and União do Vegetal—which use the psychoactive beverage ayahuasca as a sacrament. Research on these religions in Brazil dates to at least 1983, when Clodomir Monteiro da Silva studied Santo Daime's role in integrating migrant rubber tappers in Rio Branco. The collection aims to bridge the language barrier for English readers and reveal how these eclectic religions, blending popular Catholicism, Amazonian Shamanism, Spiritism, European Esotericism, and Afro-Brazilian religiosity, have moved from Amazonian frontier settlements to middle-class urban contexts.
Ponto Urbe
December 27, 2024
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Anna O. Ermakova, Jordan Sloshower et al.
In February 2023, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a 2020 report titled 'Ayahuasca: Risks to Public Health and Safety' to the legal team of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor, following Freedom of Information Act requests. This article challenges several claims in the DEA report, highlighting factual omissions, theoretical biases, and misinterpretations of existing data. The authors argue that the report minimizes ayahuasca's safety profile and therapeutic potential while overemphasizing risks, and fails to include current research demonstrating its potential benefits.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 29, 2024
Nicholas Spiers, Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Anna O. Ermakova et al.
correction
No Summary
February 27, 2023
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Glauber Loures De Assis
The chapter traces the genealogy of Brazil's effort to register ayahuasca's religious use as cultural heritage, examining the historical and comparative context of similar processes for psychoactive plants in Latin America. It identifies key players, conflicts, disputes, and alliances among ayahuasca groups, and analyzes their positions and debates surrounding the registration. The entry of indigenous ethnic groups into the public debate further complicated the process. Beyond technical and political challenges, the discussion raises debates about tradition, culture, environment, and ethnicity.
February 27, 2023
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
In a 2018 interview, Dr. José Carlos Bouso recounts his 2006 experience as a defense expert witness on ayahuasca in Spain, alongside Dr. Jordi Riba. During the trial, misinformation from the Spanish Agency of Medicine contradicted their research on ayahuasca's effects, reflecting ignorance that blocked access to the plant medicine despite Santo Daime's religious status. Bouso describes how his work with the Ayahuasca Defense Fund addresses stigmas and persecutions against ceremonial ayahuasca use worldwide, combining scientific knowledge with advocacy. The interview reflects on strategies and lessons from this ongoing effort.
Fieldwork in Religion
November 27, 2008
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
This article surveys Brazilian academic and non-academic literature on the three main ayahuasca religions of Brazil: Santo Daime, Barquinha, and União do Vegetal. It provides the most exhaustive catalog available of university theses on the subject, both published and unpublished, along with ongoing research projects and selected important articles. The authors also comment on works by religious adherents. The survey is organized in two parts: the first reviews academic works, predominantly anthropological, which examine ayahuasca use through beliefs and symbolic systems, focusing on syncretism, shamanism, and healing. The effort addresses the scattered and often inaccessible nature of these studies.