Global Ayahuasca
Stanford University Press eBooks June 11, 2024 Alex K. Gearin 9 citations
Anthropologist Alex K. Gearin examines how ayahuasca drinking practices in Peru, Australia, and China produce diverse visionary experiences shaped by local social and economic realities, rather than a single universal truth. Based on ethnographic research with Shipibo healers in remote Peru, alternative medicine groups in urban Australia, and entrepreneurs in mainland China, the book shows that ayahuasca visions range from urban disenchantment and capitalist mastery to competitive sorcery and ecological harmony. These plant-induced visions embody different attitudes toward capitalist modernity, revealing tensions, fears, and hopes of everyday modern life.