‘Ayahuasca is not a psychedelic’ – centring Indigenous forms of knowledge in research
Ayahuasca is a Quechua name for psychoactive and emetic herbal brews widespread among north-western Amazonian Indigenous groups. “In Indigenous Amazonia, Nixi pae, Uni or Kamarampi, as ayahuasca may be known, is often understood to be a knowledge technology, a peculiar form of trans-species communication that bridges mythical and present times,” explains Emilia Sanabria, an anthropologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and principal investigator of the Healing Encounters project. Supported by the European Research Council, the project explored the encounters instigated by the global circulation of therapeutic practices that make use of the ayahuasca brew.
Ayahuasca appropriation
The project examined the complex dynamics that surround interactions between Indigenous practices, traditional and neotraditional urban practices, and those of Western biomedicine. Ayahuasca brews contain N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) – a chemical similar to LSD or psilocybin. Renewed interest in the potential for psychedelics to treat conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or addiction has led a growing number of clinicians to examine ayahuasca’s therapeutic potential. However, the current psychedelic renaissance in biomedicine “risks alienating the brew from its Indigenous and traditional settings, where care practices built up over centuries prevail,” says Sanabria. The 4th Indigenous Ayahuasca Congress (website in Portuguese), held in 2022, declared that ayahuasca is not a commodity, but “the thread of life.” As one representative asserted: “Ayahuasca is not a psychedelic, it is a sentient being.” The Healing Encounters team gathered ethnographic data in and between three types of sites. “We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in urban centres, where neotraditional ritual forms proliferate, and examined the impact that the global rise of interest in ayahuasca has had on communities in Indigenous Amazonia,” says Sanabria. “Alongside this, we conducted ethnographic research in clinical settings where neuroscientists and pharmacologists attempt to qualify the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca,” she explains, adding that Western diagnostic criteria and evaluation models are often ill-suited for this task.
Adopting Indigenous research methods
Collaborations were established with two Indigenous organisations to co-analyse the impact of ayahuasca’s globalisation on Indigenous ways of life. These collaborations also examined the role ayahuasca practices play in contemporary Indigenous revitalisation and resistance. The aim was to experiment other ways of knowing with plants, such as the Indigenous practice of samakêa . This deeply embodied practice of dietary and behavioural restriction facilitates a plant-led perspective . “Our Amazonian collaborators approach certain plants as teachers,” notes Sanabria. Respecting this means seeing plants not only as objects of study, but as subjects too. This has methodological and theoretical implications, which are examined in the recently published book ‘Working With Plants That Have Mothers: Dialogues with a Shipibo Onanya’, co-written by members of Healing Encounters and José Lopez Sanchez, one of the project’s Indigenous Ethical and Scientific Advisors.
Learning from Indigenous science
To paraphrase a recent article in the journal ‘Science’, for far too long, Indigenous scientists have had to become fluent in Western modes of research and learning. It’s now Western scientists’ turn to learn from – and respect – Indigenous science. “We imagined the Healing Encounters project to be a small step in this direction, one that invites Western parameters of knowing to be jolted, questioned and opened to speculative discussion,” concludes Sanabria. The Healing Encounters researchers are continuing to publish their work and findings in a range of journals and books.
Keywords
Healing Encounters, ayahuasca, Indigenous research, Indigenous practice, Indigenous science, psychedelic, biomedicine