The Brazilian Ayahuasca Religions

Authors

  • Robin M. Wright University of Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/fiel2008v2i2.177

Keywords:

Ayahuasca Religions, shamanistic ritual, academic research and legal protection of religious freedoms, new religious movements, prophetism, psychoactive substances, religions of affliction in Brazil

Abstract

This article reviews the forthcoming issue of FIR containing an important collection of articles on the origins and developments of religious movements and, later, research movements focused on a powerful psychoactive beverage consisting of the mixture of certain vines (ayahuasca) and leaves (chacrona) found mainly in Western Amazonia. The religious interpretations resulting from the ritual ingestion of the beverage have produced the most varied practices and beliefs, beginning with the indigenous peoples and mestizo herbalists, then migrant rubber-tappers from northeastern Brazil; in the 1960s, urbanites from major cities in Brazil and Europe seeking alternative forms of religious inspiration; and, in the 1990s, a group of Brazilian researchers who have combined anthropological and religious understanding of the phenomena along with legal expertise for the protection of the religious freedom necessary for the religions’ developments. With the diversification and globalization of these new religious movements, the article points to new directions for field research in these religions.

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Author Biography

  • Robin M. Wright, University of Florida

    Robin M. Wright completed his Doctorate in Anthropology at Stanford University in 1981. He is an anthropologist, scholar of religions, and specialist in indigenous religions. He has numerous publications on shamanism, mythology and the history of indigenous peoples of South America. He is an indigenist with many years of experience as a collaborator with indigenous movements and fieldwork among the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon (Brazil). He has advised theses and undergraduate monographs on Brazilian ayahuascan religions and colaborated in the organization of the First Conference on the Ritual Use of Ayahuasca I CURA (UNICAMP, 1997). Besides being one of its founding members, for 8 years he was the coordinator of the Center for Research in Indigenous Ethnology at UNICAMP.

References

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Published

2008-04-12

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Wright, R. (2008). The Brazilian Ayahuasca Religions. Fieldwork in Religion, 2(2), 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1558/fiel2008v2i2.177