“Men,” “shaman,” and “ayahuasca” as overlapping clichés in the Peruvian vegetalismo

A myth of a male shaman who heals with ayahuasca has emerged in societies of the political North, carrying powerful meaning in a globalized world. This myth is tied to power relationships between people and plants that are commodified within capitalism and patriarchy. Using a reflexive empirical approach, the authors compare four nodes of the myth—maleness, shaman, healer, and ayahuasca—with key aspects from historical research and long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Lowland Peruvian Amazon. They aim to deconstruct the myth by examining local gender dynamics, the diversity of specialist practitioners, the complexity of healing ideas, and the centrality of plants in a pharmacopoeia where ayahuasca is just one plant among many.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter presents the construction of the idea of a "Male-Shaman-Who-Heals-With-Ayahuasca" as an emergent myth in societies from the political North – a myth which asserts powerful meaning in a global world. This myth is related to power relationships between people and plants that are commodified and embedded in the context of capitalism and patriarchy. Guided by a reflexive empirical approach, the authors bring together four nodes of the myth (1) the male, 2) the shaman, 3) the one who heals, and 4) the ayahuasca) in order to compare them systematically with key chosen aspects. Within the results of a historical approach and long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Lowland Peruvian Amazon, the aim is to provide tools for the deconstruction of this myth by examining social, cultural, and historical roots of Peruvian curanderismo. Four aspects are considered: the local dynamics of gender, the diversity of the specialist practitioners, the complexity of ideas about healing, and the centrality of plants in a local pharmacopoeia in which ayahuasca is but one plant among many.