Smoky Boundaries, Permeable Selves: Exploring the Self in Relationship with the Amazonian Jungle Tobacco, Mapacho
Anthropological Forum January 3, 2018 Dena Sharrock 6 citations
The potent jungle tobacco Mapacho, central to Amazonian shamanic healing practices, is regarded not as a pathogen but as a spirit ally that purifies, heals, protects, and teaches. Its efficacy requires smoking, through which the shaman and tobacco become mutually absorbed. Mapacho smoke blurs culturally recognized boundaries of the Western Self, permeating both internal and external realms of the healing environment. This paper explores the relationships among Mapacho, Peruvian Shipibo shamans, and Western patients, suggesting that the boundaries Westerners typically use to distinguish each from the other may be as smoky as the medicine practices themselves.