Ayahuasca from Peru to Uruguay: Ritual Design and Redesign through a Distributed Cognition Approach

Ayahuasca, a psychoactive substance from the Amazon, has spread globally through spirituality and religious markets. In Uruguay, four groups introduced it; one holistic therapy center blends Peruvian shamanic traditions into its ceremonies. The paper proposes a 'distributed cognition' model to understand ayahuasca rituals as a system of activity, explaining how cognition is shared across people, tools, and environment during the ritual.

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Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive substance from the Amazon rainforest regions of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. Although its use originated among indigenous tribes in the Amazon basin, it has become increasingly popularized in Western society through the transnational markets of spirituality and religiosity driven by globalization, Postmodernity, and new forms of religious practice. In this paper, we will overview the arrival of ayahuasca in Uruguay by way of four different groups. We will then focus on one of these groups, a holistic alternative therapies center, influenced by Peruvian shamanic traditions in the design of its ceremonies. Last we will introduce a "distributed cognition" model to explain ayahuasca rituals as a system of activity.