Abstract

Mestizo healing practices in the upper Peruvian Amazon of Peru, often referred to as vegetalismo or curanderismo, are some of the most popular and globalized practices related to ayahuasca shamanism, and yet the conceptual categories ‘mestizo’ and ‘mestizaje’ are rarely discussed in the psychedelic space in relation to Indigenous/Indigeneity. I will explore the notions of local/Indigenous healing practices and ways to re-conceptualize our ideas of authenticity and traditional.

Psychedelics, often narrowly conceptualized within medical or spiritual frameworks, bear a rich tapestry of uses within indigenous societies that extend beyond these definitions. Meanwhile, medicalized use of psychedelics mostly bears little relation to indigenous use. This panel brings together three anthropologists with unique fieldwork experiences in cultures that use psychedelics and a psychiatrist actively involved in psychedelic clinical trials.

The panel first will provide a broad overview of the diversity of indigenous psychedelic use. It will then delve into specifics with a detailed examination of two cultures: the hunter-gatherer Pumé and the Piaroa of Venezuela, both cultures which use the relatively understudied psychedelic snuff, yopo.

Rusty Greaves PhD will describe the Savanna Pumé’s extensive use of yopo snuff, a practice engaged with by practically all men with great frequency and in a variety of fashions that broadly defy stereotypes of indigenous use. This includes use throughout the day as well as in frequent all-night dances attended by nearly all men of the community.

Robin Rodd PhD will also cover an overview of Piaroa yopo use and theories of healthcare, which are not reducible to healer-patient relationships but instead oriented around an ecological healthcare logic and multi-being communication.

Lastly, the panel will describe typical practices in the medicalized use of psychedelics and draw attention to the convergences and divergences between these.

Indigenous Use of Anadenanthera Snuff Among Savanna Hunter-Gatherers In Venezuela | Dr. Russell Greaves

Savanna Pumé hunter-gatherers of the Orinoco Plains of Venezuela employ frequent use of hallucinogenic snuff made from Anadenanthera peregrina. Snuff is taken on a nearly daily basis by many men in the community. It serves to increase vigor and reduce hunger as useful effects for daily chores and subsistence activities. It is used “recreationally” by men solitarily or socially during most days. Anadenanthera snuff, and the use of minimally prepared Banisteriopsis caapi epithelium, is employed by all men throughout social 11-hr night-dances, held 37% of all nights I have been in residence across 30 months of fieldwork.

This presentation discusses the ethnographic contexts of the use of this powerful and occasionally dangerous hallucinogen and its role in Savanna Pumé sociality, group solidarity, and cooperative behaviors. Anadenthera snuff (and Banisteriopsis) is not employed exclusively as a therapeutic substance, nor is it restricted to activities that are often termed “ceremonial”, “ritual”, or “shamanistic” in many anthropological accounts. The Savanna Pumé are a significantly food-stressed population who experience high levels of exposure to a range of arboviruses, parasitic diseases, and other pathogens. The use of hallucinogens may have medicinal value in addition to the culturally stated rationale that is principally pro-social.