Ayahuasca Ethno-tourism and its Impact on the Indigenous Shuar Community (Ecuador) and Western Participants
Český lid September 15, 2020 Dima Salibová 6 citations
An indigenous Shuar community in Ecuador hosts tourists seeking retreats featuring traditional medicinal plants like ayahuasca and tobacco, offering individual ceremonies or the Natemamu rite—a ten- to twelve-day series of ceremonies involving large quantities of ayahuasca. The article examines the commodification of the Natemamu rite as a global market product and the impacts on hosts and visitors. Based on participant observation, interviews, and audio-visual documentation, the findings indicate that the introduction of Western tourists has driven processual changes to the rite and ideational and material changes on both sides. Tourists experienced more ideational changes, while the Shuar experienced more material changes, aligning with each group's expectations of the encounter.