The Use of Ayahuasca among Rubber Tappers of the Upper Juruá

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How to Cite: Pantoja, M. C., & Silva da Conceição, O. (2008). The Use of Ayahuasca among Rubber Tappers of the Upper Juruá: translated by Robin Wright, revised by Matthew Meyer. Fieldwork in Religion, 2(3), 235–255. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v2i3.235

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The article is the fruit of co-authorship between an anthropologist with long research experience in the area of the Extractivist Reserve of the Alto Juruá, in the far west of the state of Acre in the Brazilian Amazon, and a rubber tapper who was first introduced to ayahuasca in the context of a rubber camp. His initiation has elements of non-indigenous and indigenous culture and results in a quite original synthesis, which is narrated in the first-person at the beginning of the article. The article traces the history of the introduction of ayahuasca, or cipó (vine), among the rubber tappers of the Alto Juruá in their relations with indigenous populations and their pajés (shamans), highlighting those rubber tappers who distinguished themselves as apprentices and became healers renowned among their contemporaries. Beginning in the 1980s the use of cipó occurs in the context of the struggle of rubber tappers against the rubber bosses, and ayahuasca mysticism merges with political conflict. New syntheses take place, now with the introduction of elements of the religious doctrine of Santo Daime.

  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpeg
  • file size
    62 KB
  • container title
    Fieldwork in Religion
  • creator
    Mariana Ciavatta Pantoja & Osmildo Silva da Conceição, translated by Robin Wright
  • issn
    ISSN: 1743-0623 (online)
  • issue
    2.3
  • publisher
    Equinox Publishing Ltd.
  • publisher place
    Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • rights
    Equinox Publishing Ltd.
  • volume
  • doi