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Education Policy Analysis Archives

ISSN 1068-2341

1 paper in the library · 3 citations · publishing 2018

Papers

Pedagogia da Ayahuasca: Por uma decolonização epistêmica do saber

Education Policy Analysis Archives July 22, 2018 Maria Betânia Barbosa Albuquerque 3 citations

Ayahuasca, a plant-based beverage used in the Santo Daime religion, functions as a non-human teacher in a unique form of education. Followers learn from the plant through ritual consumption, acquiring knowledge that challenges conventional epistemic boundaries. This article examines the educational dimension of daime, the kinds of knowledge it generates, and the epistemological framework required to understand such pedagogy. Drawing on literature about ayahuasca and Santo Daime, as well as oral testimonies from practitioners in Brazil and abroad, the analysis employs a broad concept of education as culture, critiques the epistemic sovereignty of science, and uses the notion of cultural mediators. The article argues that this plant-mediated learning expands what counts as valid knowledge beyond Western scientific paradigms.