Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond

This presentation will offer an overview of the book “Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond”, co-edited by Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar, and published through Oxford University Press in 2014. The book discusses how Amerindian epistemology and ontology related to certain indigenous shamanic rituals of the Amazon spread to Western societies, and how indigenous, mestizo, and cosmopolitan cultures have dialogued with and transformed these forest traditions. The collection also focuses on how shamanic rituals have been spreading and developing in post-traditional urban contexts throughout the world. Special attention is given to ayahuasca, a psychoactive drink usually composed of two plants, the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and leaves of the Psychotria viridis bush. Ayahuasca use has spread beyond its Amazonian origin and instigated a variety of legal and cultural responses in the countries it has spread to.