Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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The social-cultural history and present of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca or ayaguasca (in Hispanicised spellings), and aioasca (in Brazilian Portuguese spelling), from Quechua ayawaska (aya: soul, waska: vine); is a South American entheogenic brew made from Banisteriopsis caapi vine (also known as jagube, liana, mariri, yagé or caapi) and Psychotria viridis (also known as chacrona). The brew has been used for at least 3500 years (with some arguing 5000 or even 8000 years, see Dobkin de Rios and Rumrrill 2008) as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among different Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. In this presentation, I will offer a journey through the historical socio-cultural aspects of ayahuasca, including its origins, past and present uses, and purposes. I discuss if and how Indigenous cosmologies and the practice of ayahuasca are being incorporated into the psychedelic scientific debates and research and what are the implications for Indigenous rights. Conclusions point out the need to better legitimize Indigenous knowledge and spirituality as important evidence of intellectual property and ancestral ties to the land and other-than-human beings. Finally, expanding perceptions of ayahuasca to include Indigenous science and practices could help in integrating a plurality of knowledges when moving forward toward the future of psychedelics.
Dr. Maria Fernanda Gebara is a Brazilian anthropologist whose research considers the Amazon as a site where nature, culture, politics, and spirituality are enmeshed. She has been analyzing the challenges to anthropocentric attitudes from diverse perspectives, investigating local traditions and practices to understand alternative configurations between human and other-than-human beings. She is now working on her own book called “Chanting Spring”. Using the clarion call of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring as her touchstone, the book maps out our disconnection from the natural world and the consequences this has wrought on us, weaving a narrative of reconnection that includes psychedelics and detailing many of her personal experiences with Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon, offering a mix of science and traditional knowledge as we transition to a post-pandemic world. She has been lecturing on such topics in universities in the United Kingdom, including the London School of Economics, Oxford, and East Anglia, but also in overseas universities such as Harvard, Dresden and Helsink. She has several publications in top-ranked journals in development, environmental and anthropology studies. Relevant ones include:
Please support our work and enable us to continue to share these talks for free by donating at paypal.me/breakingconventionuk
The social-cultural history and present of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca or ayaguasca (in Hispanicised spellings), and aioasca (in Brazilian Portuguese spelling), from Quechua ayawaska (aya: soul, waska: vine); is a South American entheogenic brew made from Banisteriopsis caapi vine (also known as jagube, liana, mariri, yagé or caapi) and Psychotria viridis (also known as chacrona). The brew has been used for at least 3500 years (with some arguing 5000 or even 8000 years, see Dobkin de Rios and Rumrrill 2008) as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among different Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. In this presentation, I will offer a journey through the historical socio-cultural aspects of ayahuasca, including its origins, past and present uses, and purposes. I discuss if and how Indigenous cosmologies and the practice of ayahuasca are being incorporated into the psychedelic scientific debates and research and what are the implications for Indigenous rights. Conclusions point out the need to better legitimize Indigenous knowledge and spirituality as important evidence of intellectual property and ancestral ties to the land and other-than-human beings. Finally, expanding perceptions of ayahuasca to include Indigenous science and practices could help in integrating a plurality of knowledges when moving forward toward the future of psychedelics.
Dr. Maria Fernanda Gebara is a Brazilian anthropologist whose research considers the Amazon as a site where nature, culture, politics, and spirituality are enmeshed. She has been analyzing the challenges to anthropocentric attitudes from diverse perspectives, investigating local traditions and practices to understand alternative configurations between human and other-than-human beings. She is now working on her own book called “Chanting Spring”. Using the clarion call of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring as her touchstone, the book maps out our disconnection from the natural world and the consequences this has wrought on us, weaving a narrative of reconnection that includes psychedelics and detailing many of her personal experiences with Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon, offering a mix of science and traditional knowledge as we transition to a post-pandemic world. She has been lecturing on such topics in universities in the United Kingdom, including the London School of Economics, Oxford, and East Anglia, but also in overseas universities such as Harvard, Dresden and Helsink. She has several publications in top-ranked journals in development, environmental and anthropology studies. Relevant ones include:
