The Expanding World Ayahuasca Diaspora: Appropriation, Integration and Legislation (Vitality of Indigenous Religions) by Beatriz Caiuby Labate & Clancy Cavnar

Author:Beatriz Caiuby Labate & Clancy Cavnar [Labate, Beatriz Caiuby & Cavnar, Clancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415786188
Amazon: 0415786185
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-02-09T05:00:00+00:00

Psychonauts and analogues

The Internet has played an important role in facilitating the development of psychonautic ayahuasca practice and the related use of ayahuasca analogues. Principally, this takes place through the sharing of information pertaining to analogues, recipes, and brewing techniques, as well as the exchange of plants and extracts. These largely individualistic and secular themes and practices have likely contributed to the expansion of the psychoactive drink, especially in terms of its global accessibility. Analogues and home brewing practices generally form part of the sub-culture of “psychonauts,” an individualistic and distinctly secular grouping distinct from the forms of traditionalization evident in the appropriation of vegetalismo. In psychonautic practice, and through the use of analogues, ayahuasca is dislocated from traditional cultural moorings and incorporated into non-traditional contexts through the application of the scientific language of molecular compositions, chemical interactions, and physiological effects. The dissemination of scientific data through online archives, as well as the use of scientific language in the development of novel concepts, and the sharing of opinions and experiences through active discussions on social media, contributes to the re-formulation of ayahuasca’s cultural relationships. These alternative discursive relationships, and the direct access to plants and extracts achieved through online spaces, provide opportunities for individuals to engage with ayahuasca in a range of novel contexts.

In contrast to the appropriation and reinvention of vegetalismo, online information sharing and discussions pertaining to ayahuasca analogues and brewing techniques are generally set within secular psychonautic contexts. “Psychonauts” can be defined as individuals who use psychoactive substances “without adherence to any traditional or formalized ritual protocols” (Tupper, 2011, p. 12). Psychonautic practice is characterized by a secularized focus on pharmacological and ethnobotanical understandings of the plants, devoid of any specifically spiritual or traditional grounding in terms of beliefs or practice. The discursive contextualization of ayahuasca within scientific language through websites and books shared online provide individuals with an avenue to engage with the field in a modern, Western language. The employment of scientific language online standardizes ayahuasca’s cultural grounding in ways that serve to broaden its accessibility within modern Western culture (Labate, 2014), such as through establishing safe and effective dosages and other features common to the practice.

The capacity to share information and negotiate novel concepts online has significantly contributed to layperson understandings of ayahuasca analogues, while the growth of interest in analogues itself has been a major contributor to ayahuasca’s worldwide expansion (Tupper, 2008). Ayahuasca analogues are plants that contain the particular psychoactive molecular properties found in the Amazonian plants used in ayahuasca brews and can therefore be employed as alternatives to those used in traditional contexts (Ott, 1994; Tupper, 2008). Consequently, in modern settings outside of the Amazon, alternatives to the traditional constituents are now employed to achieve the same, or similar, effects as ayahuasca.

Throughout the Internet, scientific information pertaining to the concept of analogues, as well as the various plant types and brewing techniques, is relatively easy to obtain. Online spaces, whether social media or otherwise, generally function as information archives (Thomas & Sheth, 2011), as well as avenues through which information can be purchased.

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