Mana
December 1, 2013
Marcelo S. Mercante
30 citations
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage used by various Indigenous groups throughout the Amazon, as well as by mestizo shamans (called "vegetalistas") and by religions and independent groups in Brazil. Since the 1990s this beverage has been employed in treating addiction. There are currently some centers spread across South America that carry out this type of treatment. The author conducted fieldwork in four of them, one in Peru and three in Brazil. This article provides a brief ethnographic description of these centers and offers some considerations on the role of the experience during the tea's effect in the recovery from addiction, as well as the possibility that this type of treatment is not merely a substitution therapy.
Mana
October 1, 2003
Benny Shanon
19 citations
The article examines the contents of visual hallucinations induced by the psychoactive infusion ayahuasca. It is part of a broader phenomenological investigation approaching ayahuasca from a psychological-cognitive perspective, whereas most prior studies have come from the natural sciences or anthropology. Quantitative comparative analyses reveal that certain specific content items are especially prevalent in ayahuasca visions and recur in accounts from informants of different sociocultural backgrounds. The results are discussed theoretically in light of both psychological and anthropological considerations.
Mana
September 1, 2017
Ilana Seltzer Goldstein, Beatriz Caiuby Labate
8 citations
Ernesto Neto's artworks, recently exhibited in major museums in Bilbao, São Paulo, and Vienna, draw power from their reference to Huni Kuin (Kaxinawa) ayahuasca healing rituals. This growing visibility of Indigenous presence in the art world parallels the entry of Indigenous peoples into urban ayahuasca circuits. The circulation of new forms of shamanism, ayahuasca consumption, art objects, and performances across national and international networks demonstrates the vitality and adaptability of Indigenous cultural practices while opening possibilities for transcultural dialogue. However, it also encounters thorny challenges: legal prohibitions on ayahuasca use, difficulties protecting traditional intellectual property, and the potential reification of identities. The text uses Neto's collaboration with the Huni Kuin to reflect on these issues.
Mana
December 11, 2015
Rosa Virgínia Melo
A book resulting from a collaborative research project maps Afro-Brazilian religious houses (terreiros) in Rio de Janeiro state. It describes a dual movement in these religions, both "invention" and "heritage," where memory work simultaneously drives transformation. The work is presented as a fundamental contribution to combating the vulnerability of the "povo de santo" (religious community). The research, conducted between 2008 and 2011 by PUC-Rio's Nirema and Nima centers, used systematic and participatory fieldwork to build a quantitative and qualitative documentary base for social cartography. The project aimed to map as many houses as possible through direct referrals, forming a network based on identification and trust, not an exhaustive census.