Brujería capitalista y turistas pishtaco
Anthropologica December 16, 2025 Doriane Sabine Slaghenauffi
The rise of 'shamanic tourism' in Shipibo-Konibo communities and urban areas has increased vernacular witchcraft practices, now integrated into the commercialization of local vegetalista shamanism. This climate provokes witchcraft attacks on rival shamans and on tourists seeking shamanic and hallucinogenic experiences, some of whom become subjects of witchcraft rumors. These occult practices and interpretations are both forms of resilience built by Shipibo shamans to cope with and benefit from the ongoing transition to capitalism, and manifestations of frustration and anxiety over the appropriation of local shamanism by global culture, symptomatic of traditionally ambiguous ties between kirinko (foreigners) and indigenous people.