Plant Drugs and Shamanism in the Americas

Indigenous South American cultures had diverse traditional uses for psychoactive plants, which were transformed by European colonization and labeled as idolatry. Colonial chroniclers and Spanish extirpators of idolatry provide insights into original Amerindian contexts. Colonialism initiated cultural mixing and a drug "imaginary." The current religious revival of practices like vegetalismo and curandeirismo using ayahuasca, jurema, and hallucinogenic snuffs is analyzed, alongside revisiting the concept of shamanism in Amazonian cultures.

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Abstract

Abstract The Indigenous cultures of South America developed a diverse array of traditional uses for psychoactive plants. This chapter surveys the historical and anthropological literatures on these practices. Pre-Columbian usage, later labeled as idolatry, was transformed by European colonization of the Americas. However, chroniclers such as Sahagun, Hernández, de Acosta, and Monardes, as well as accounts by Spanish “extirpadores de idolatrias” can be used to understand the original Amerindian contexts of these plant drugs. Colonialism initiated processes of “mestiçagem” (mixing) and cultural hybridity including the drug “imaginary,” to borrow Serge Gruzinski’s term. The current religious revival of such practices as “vegetalismo” “curandeirismo” using ayahuasca, jurema, and hallucinogenic snuffs (paricá, yopo, vilca, etc.) is analyzed along with its recent literatures. This also means revisiting the classic anthropological concept of shamanism and its application to Amerindian cultures, particularly in Amazonia.