Ayahuasca Groups and Networks in the Netherlands: A Challenge to the Study of Contemporary Religion

The chapter examines the global spread of ayahuasca use, focusing on the social and political dynamics that shape its internationalization. It argues that the movement of ayahuasca from indigenous Amazonian contexts to urban and global settings involves complex negotiations between religious, therapeutic, and recreational frameworks. The text analyzes how different groups—including indigenous communities, religious organizations, and secular users—adapt and contest the meanings and regulations of ayahuasca. It highlights tensions between cultural appropriation and respectful exchange, as well as the role of legal and medical discourses in defining ayahuasca's status. The chapter concludes that the internationalization of ayahuasca reflects broader processes of globalization and cultural hybridization.

Study at a glance

Abstract

in: Beatriz Caiuby Labate & Henrik Jungaberle (eds.), The Internationalization of Ayahuasca, Lit Verlag: Zürich / Berlin 2011, 85-103.