Singing White Smoke: Tobacco Songs from the Ucayali Valley

Ayahuasca's growing prominence in contemporary literature and search engines is explained by the parallel decline in the use of tobacco, which has historically been underrepresented. Among the Yine people of the Ucayali valley, individuals known as kagonchi or monchi are associated with tobacco use and magical chanting, an association that may be ancient but has taken new forms. The most remote use of tobacco occurs among voluntarily isolated indigenous groups along the Peruvian-Brazilian border, who avoid contact with globalization. The chapter concludes by considering how cosmopolitan attitudes toward tobacco and ayahuasca influence substance use generally, particularly in drug tourism contexts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter redresses the imbalance between the representation of ayahuasca and tobacco not only in contemporary search engines but in the literature. It explains ayahuasca's steady ascent by analysing the decline of the use of tobacco. To complete the review of Arawakan languages spoken in the Ucayali valley, the Yine know such persons as either kagonchi or monchi. The possibly older association of tobacco use and magical chanting has probably taken on new forms in these places. The most remote, in the sense of a Westerner mapping the upper Amazon, use of tobacco may occur among those few indigenous peoples who remain 'voluntarily isolated'. There is evidence that many hundreds of individuals live along the Peruvian-Brazilian border, avoiding contact with towns and villages and, consequently, globalization. The chapter concludes with some thoughts about the influence of cosmopolitan attitudes to tobacco and ayahuasca on substance use in general and specifically tobacco in the context of drug tourism.