When Sacred Plants Turn into Resources. Review of “Cull of Personality: Ayahuasca, Shamanism and the Death of the Healer” by Kevin Tucker Black, Black and Green Press: Denver 2019, 208 pages
Ethnologia Polona December 18, 2020 Zuzanna Sadowska
Kevin Tucker's book argues that the history of ayahuasca is deeply intertwined with colonialism, and that Western engagement with the Amazonian sacred brew continues patterns of exploitation. The author points out that Western domination persists in material and immaterial forms, including claims on indigenous knowledge. The work uses the tragic death of Maestra Olivia, a Shipibo-Conibo healer shot by a Canadian seeker of ayahuasca, as a starting point. Tucker concludes that Westerners cannot establish positive and sustainable relations with indigenous worlds and should stay away from them.