Otherwise Ayahuasca Expressions. Ritual Reinvention and Social Change in Ayahuasca Rituals

Ayahuasca rituals are being reinvented through hybrid, artistic forms that the author calls 'otherwise ayahuasca expressions.' These ritual forms navigate a tension between fixed structures and flexible ones, with change involving shifting flows between established and more adaptable ritual frameworks. Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil and Italy, the article explores transformations in ayahuasca ritual structures, bridging ritual studies and the anthropology of the otherwise. These otherwise ayahuasca expressions emerge from other religious and ritual forms, mediating ritual experiences through art and experimentation that are mostly not allowed in other comparable settings.

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Abstract

This article examines a range of hybrid, artistic ayahuasca ritual formations that I define as otherwise ayahuasca expressions to engage with the question of ritual reinvention. Given the kaleidoscopic multiplicity in the diffusion of the Amazonian psychoactive plant brew ayahuasca, this article argues that ritual forms navigate the tension between fixity and flexibility, and that ritual change involves shifting flows between established ritual structures and more flexible ones. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil and Italy, the article explores specific transformations in ayahuasca ritual structures, bridging ritual studies and the anthropology of the otherwise. Emerging from other religious and ritual forms, the otherwise ayahuasca expressions mediate ritual experiences that are mostly not allowed to exist in other comparable settings through art and experimentation.