Technologies of the Body in Contemporary Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon: Implications for Future Research

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant mixture used in a ceremonial context throughout WesternAmazonia whose use has expanded globally in recent decades becoming popular among westerners whotravel to the Peruvian Amazon in increasing numbers to experience its reportedly healing andtransformative effects. The experience often involves participating in a shamanic dieta, which involvesfasting and ingesting non-psychoactive plants as well as a variety of plants for bodily and energeticcleansing in the form of purges and ritual baths. I demonstrate that the use of plants in this mannerconstitutes a technology intricately connected with Amazonian conceptions of the body and ultimately localeco-cosmologies that enrich our understanding of human-nature relationships and thus should form part offuture research or sustainability efforts in the area.