Human Ecology

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-0043-6

Technologies of the Body in Contemporary Ayahuasca Shamanism

in the Peruvian Amazon: Implications for Future Research
Evgenia Fotiou 1

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant mixture used in a ceremonial context throughout WesternAmazonia whose use has expanded
globally in recent decades becoming popular among westerners whotravel to the Peruvian Amazon in increasing numbers to
experience its reportedly healing andtransformative effects. The experience often involves participating in a shamanic dieta,
which involvesfasting and ingesting non-psychoactive plants as well as a variety of plants for bodily and energeticcleansing in the
form of purges and ritual baths. I demonstrate that the use of plants in this mannerconstitutes a technology intricately connected
with Amazonian conceptions of the body and ultimately localeco-cosmologies that enrich our understanding of human-nature
relationships and thus should form part offuture research or sustainability efforts in the area.

Keywords Ayahuasca . Shamanism . Body . Amazonia

Introduction individual’s consciousness, but are technologies for altering

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic plant mixture, consumed in a con-
coction prepared from the stems of the jungle liana,
Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.) Morton, most often
combined with the leaves of Psychotria viridis Ruiz & Pav. or
Diplopterys cabrerana (Cuatrec.) B. Gates to produce vision-
ary and purgative effects. The Banisteriopsis caapi vine is in-
digenous to western and northwestern Amazonia, but its use for
this purpose has expanded globally in the last few decades. The
experience is often accompanied by the participation in a sha-
manic dieta 1 that involves fasting and ingesting non-
psychoactive plants as well as a variety of plants for bodily
and energetic cleansing in the form of purges and ritual baths.
While a large body of literature focuses on ayahuasca’s
healing effects, the large array of plants used in Amazonian
shamanism and the related local epistemologies are
understudied. In Amazonia plants are not used to change
1
This is a special plant diet to acquire knowledge directly from the spirits of
the plants that involves the ingestion of one or more plants and a restricted diet
in isolation from other human activity. The verb in Spanish is Bdietar,^
translated as diet.
* Evgenia Fotiou
efotiou@kent.edu
1
Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA
the body and infusing it with certain properties. I favor the
word technologies because shamanic traditions are empirical
in their methodology as healers will test plants and learn from
the effects they have on their own bodies. A number of
scholars have described the empiricist deductive approach
used by their indigenous informants (e.g., Hviding 1996).
The body has not been central to western epistemologies—
with the exception of Merleau-Ponty and feminist scholars
who have focused on the corporeality of knowledge (Santos
2016). For the purposes of this paper, bodies are understood
not as isolated subjectivities but as intersubjective milieus
(Csordas 2002: 244) attending to the bodies of other subjectiv-
ities including those of plants. I join others in approaching
science as one way of knowledge (Santos 2016) and argue that
local epistemologies—including corporeal ways of knowing
and related technologies of the body—can enhance our re-
search efforts.
Amidst recent discussions of putative overharvesting of
medicinal plants and the dangers of deforestation (Opray
2017), I argue here that successful preservation of the
Amazon rainforest should include the preservation of local
epistemologies, which are part of integrated systems of
knowledge that include ecological and medical knowledge.
One way to bring together different types of knowledge such
as western science and shamanic knowledge is intercultural
translation (Santos 2016) with ethnography offering the most

significant contribution to this effort. We no longer need to
stay on one side of the Babyssal line^ in western knowledge
that deems everything on the other side of the line as
Bincomprehensible magical or idolatrous practices^ (Santos
2014: 122). For example, in Amazonia the Cubeo use the
dye from the genipa fruit primarily for protective purposes
especially for children and women, who use it to coat their
back when they are menstruating. Goldman (1979) reported
that the crudeness with which the dye is applied emphasizes
its magical character. When he questioned the women about
this, they responded that it is good for the skin, which he
attributed to pure evasiveness (Goldman 1979: 271). In the
light of later evidence of the beneficial properties of genipa
for the skin, this case illustrates the need to take indigenous
informants and their epistemologies seriously.
This paper is based on data collected between 2003 and
2015 in and around Iquitos, Peru, working primarily with
mestizo ayahuasqueros (healers specializing in ayahuasca cer-
emonies of mixed (European and Indigenous) descent) who
work with western visitors as well as locals. In addition to
ceremony participation, I worked closely with some of the
healers with whom I discussed at length the ideas presented
in this paper. I also observed the preparation of ayahuasca and
other medicines by some of them. In total, I observed ceremo-
nies run by 10 different healers—eight males and two females.
I will first address Amazonian eco-cosmologies that inform
contemporary ayahuasca shamanism and will discuss several
examples of plants and tree barks to illustrate how plants are
used in this context. I conclude with a discussion of dietas as
technologies of the body and argue for the inclusion of local
knowledge in future research and sustainability efforts.
Nature, Bodies, and Substances in Indigenous
Amazonia
Anthropological studies of indigenous eco-cosmologies—
Bintegral models of human-nature relatedness^ (Århem
1996: 185)—have emphasized the importance of concepts of
the relational ties between humans and nature or other than
human persons as well as the lack of the dualisms dominating
western epistemologies. Reciprocity with the natural world is
based on a principle of Bequivalence between humans and
non-humans sharing the biosphere^ (Descola 1996: 89) and
humans are viewed as participating in a wider community of
living beings including non-human persons. This is not unique
to Amazonia. Others have emphasized a mutualist rather than
dualist view as well as the practical engagement of indigenous
peoples with the environment and have challenged divisions
between magic and science dominating the scholarly literature
(Hviding 1996). I observed a similar pragmatic, anti-dualist
approach among Peruvian healers. These eco-cosmologies are
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not mere mental constructs but are essentially Bcosmology
turned into ecology^ (Århem 1996: 200).
While these relationships have been well documented be-
tween humans and animals (Århem 1996), there is less re-
search concerning human-plant relationships. In Amazonian
cosmologies, where humans, animals, and plants are all peo-
ple (Viveiros de Castro 1998), plants can be powerful
agents with the ability to influence human society in profound
ways. Humans can maintain with them Bindividual relations
governed by a code of behavior similar to that which prevails
among the Indians themselves^ (Descola 2012: 481). BNatural
resources^ are finite and therefore in constant need for replen-
ishment (Århem 1996). One of the mestizo ayahuasqueros
with whom I worked shares a similar approach, and tries to
plant trees and other medicinal plants on his property to reduce
harvesting from the wild in the future, saying that he became a
healer after he saw the destruction resulting from extractive
activities in the area.
A review of the ethnographic literature on indigenous
Amazonia reveals elaborate theories of the body and its con-
struction through substances. There is an emphasis on fabricat-
ing the body relating to perspectivism, according to which all
living beings have a soul, while bodies are markers of difference
(Viveiros de Castro 1998). Since the soul is the constant among
living beings while bodies are unstable, there is a need for the
management and construction of bodies through different sub-
stances and techniques. For groups such as the Muinane
(Londoño Sulkin 2012), social life is centered on the production
of human bodies on the basis of substances. Substances have
their own agency and are of divine origin; they were given to
each Muinane lineage by divinities or mythical heroes and their
misappropriation could turn them poisonous (Londoño Sulkin
2012). For the Cashinahua, the body is not regarded as a bio-
logical fact nor does it Bgrow naturally;^ rather, bodies are un-
stable and constantly constituted (McCallum 2014) and Bmade^
often with the ingestion of substances. According to Santos-
Granero persons Bare not born as such but must be intentionally
manufactured or shaped through the input of a variety of sub-
stances and effects provided by parents and kin^ (2009: 7).
A variety of substances of plant and non-plant origin are used
to infuse the body with certain properties at different stages of a
person’s life. Among the Napo Runa, the location of the body’s
power is the flesh (Uzendoski 2005), and one’s body must
change form and become strengthened over the course of one’s
life. Cashinahua boys are initiated into hunting via a prolonged
diet that begins with using frog skin to induce vomiting and then
killing a boa to eat its tongue (McCallum 2001). The abilities of
the boa are thus transmitted to the hunter and help them kill large
game animals. For the Urarina, most knowledge has its source
outside of human society and learning comes through ingesting
herbal medicines or remedies while keeping a strict regimen of
fasting and other prohibitions (Walker 2013). While acquiring a
new skill there is an imprinting phase centered on disciplined
Hum Ecol
practice (Walker 2013). For example, to obtain spear fishing
ability one must tie strips of the inner bark of the bijiurara tree
around the forearm, which leaves lasting scars (Walker 2013).
The Ashéninka use leaf baths to strengthen the body (Lenaerts
2006), a practice still common in the Peruvian Amazon. Among
the Urarina, bodies are permeable and humans engage in a con-
tinuous process of sealing/hardening/ensouling the body
through a variety of techniques involving objects and songs
(Walker 2013) (Fig. 1).
Altered states of consciousness are closely connected to ac-
quiring knowledge. For the Napo Runa, to be drunk is to open
one’s body to the spirit world so that one’s Bessence^ is mani-
fested; drunken states are seen positively as a means of attaining
knowledge (Uzendoski 2005). McCallum has also stressed the
relationship between knowledge and health, stating on the one
hand that among the Cashinahua the same substances and ex-
periences that can be transformed into knowledge may also
become illness-causing agents, and on the other that Billness
can be understood as a disturbance in the body’s capacity to
know^ (1996: 363). Healing involves active manipulation of
these principles. Among the Iquito, following a certain diet is
central during healing (Jernigan 2011). For the Matsigenka, for
whom illness is caused by harmful spirits that enter the body,
toxic plants are used to Bexpel such intruders^ (Shepard 1998:
323). An Urarina remedy for strength involves fasting and
drinking a decoction of the chuchuhuasi tree, crushed tapir
bone, and piri-piri (Walker 2013). During the fast, all food must
be cold; salt, gruel, sugar, manioc beer, and banana drinks are
prohibited, and the person must bathe continuously. If the fast is
followed correctly the novice will become brave but if not they
will emerge weak (Walker 2013). Similarly, Hugh-Jones (1979:
119) reports the Barasana theory of the body Bplaces extreme
value on the regulation of exits and entrances.^
While these processes are utilized throughout a person’s life,
they are instrumental in the shamanic apprenticeship during
which knowledge and power are embedded in the shaman’s
Fig. 1 Preparation of ritual bath with patiquina, toé leaves, and tobacco
body. For the Achuar, shamanic apprenticeship involves Ba
change in the ecology of his physical system^ (Descola 1997:
338). This is achieved through Bascetic discipline^ involving
purging and a strict diet (Descola 1997). At the end of the
Desana shaman’s training, a closing ceremony leaves the knowl-
edge acquired dormant in the initiate’s body; therapeutic spells
are placed in his brain and evil ones in his belly (Buchillet
2004). For the Siona, a substance called dau, the root of the
shaman’s power, forms and grows in the shaman’s body as he
continues to ingest yagé (Langdon 1992). This accumulation of
knowledge in his body makes a shaman vulnerable and in need
for constant protection to avoid potential damage to his dau
(Langdon 1992). A similar process is present with the shamanic
phlegm and virotes (darts) found among the Shuar as well as
mestizo shamans in the Peruvian Amazon today who still prac-
tice fasting and sexual abstinence during their apprenticeship.
During data collection in the area of Iquitos, I found that
numerous plants are used with similar objectives to those de-
scribed above. Physical purification is thought to be instrumen-
tal in healing and not only is it a part of the ayahuasca experi-
ence itself, known locally as purga (purge), but it often pre-
cedes ayahuasca ceremonies through a restricted diet and plant
purgatives. Certain dietary restrictions, which are beyond the
scope of this article (see Gearin and Labate 2018), are meant to
keep the body pure before the ceremony. I also witnessed pur-
gative plants used to purify the body on the morning of an
ayahuasca ceremony. These plants will induce vomiting or
diarrhea or both. On several occasions, the latex of the ojé plant
(Ficus insipida Willd.) (Luna 1992) was used. Ojé is quite
toxic and to avoid poisoning is taken with a large quantity of
water, which induces powerful purging. On another occasion,
the healer gave piñones blancos (probably the nut of the
Jatropha curcas L.) to a large group at an ayahuasca retreat.
She explained that she did this so people would have less to
purge during the ceremony and would suffer less. A similar
practice is found among the Siona who use emetics to make the
body lighter before yagé ceremonies (Langdon 1992: 56).
Shamanic Dietas as Technologies of the Body
In Amazonia, the training of shamans often requires fasting,
vomiting, and sexual abstinence (Hugh-Jones 1988) and the
novice must obtain several spiritual weapons and tools of the
trade. The novice also consumes strong hallucinogens and
must master the trance state (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1971) while
spending long periods of time in the jungle in isolation from
the community, closer to nature and the spirits from which
they learn. In the Peruvian Amazon, the apprenticeship is a
vital part of a shaman’s credentials. Esoteric knowledge, cer-
emonial practices, as well as other spiritual Bproperty^ or
powers are transmitted to healers through their lineage.
Icaros (songs sang in ayahuasca ceremonies) and some of

the shaman’s powers are passed on by the teacher to the stu-
dent, an example being the yachay (knowledge phlegm),
which resides in the shaman’s body and needs to be fed with
tobacco (Freedman 2015). A relationship with certain plant
spirits is also expected; a respected shaman is someone who
has received powers from his/her master shaman as well as the
spirits of the plants directly. Some of the shamans I worked
with started their apprenticeship after being healed of a life-
threatening disease by a shaman. A central theme of the
shamans interviewed was the physical, spiritual and psycho-
logical cleansing that preceded their apprenticeship, when
they had to purge all dark and negative elements before they
could accept the spirits of the plants and their teachings in their
bodies and become healers (see also Jauregui et al. 2011).
There are many specialists within Amazonian shamanism,
such as paleros or tabaqueros—experts in tree barks and to-
bacco respectively. For ayahuasqueros paleros, experts in
both ayahuasca and tree barks, dietas of trees barks are the
most fundamental aspect of their practice. By ingesting them,
they allow the spirits of the trees to enter their bodies and teach
them directly. The practice of dietas by individuals without the
intention of becoming healers is a recent phenomenon and
dietas are now available in most ayahuasca retreats catering
to western visitors.
The principle behind dietas is simple: the shaman, or any-
one wanting to acquire knowledge from the plants ingests one
or more plants followed by a strict dietary regimen. Most
dietas last 8, 15 or 30 days, even though it was often reported
that a few decades ago shamans would diet for 6 months to a
year at a time. Even if a visitor diets for a longer period than
the usual 8 days, they only drink the plant concoctions on the
first four to five nights while some healers only administer
them on the first day. The diet generally excludes sugar, alco-
hol, sex, pork, salt, spicy food, drugs, as well as soap and
toothpaste, and direct physical contact with others—except
with the shaman or other participants. Some participants re-
ported that excluding these elements from the body allows the
human spirit, body, and mind to be more open to the forest and
the plants’ teachings. When the dieta is completed, no sexual
contact—including masturbation—is allowed for 30 days, and
pork is not allowed for at least 6 months.
The frequency of dietas varies. One of the shamans
interviewed preferred to diet at least once a year to cleanse
and to center himself as well as to renew his relationship to the
plants. He also saw dietas as an exercise in discipline:
These plants have their spirits, their fairies, their goblins,
whatever we want to call them; their elementals. When
you are dieting these eight days without salt, without
sugar, and you have taken the plant, and the plant is in
you, you are allowing that plant to develop in you. That
month that you do not do certain things, it's the respect
that you’re giving to that plant. If you diet well, then the
Hum Ecol
spirit of the plant will be with you. If it is to cure a
disease, it will help you cure the disease. If it is to learn,
every time you need that plant in an icaro or something
to heal someone, you will have the strength and power
of that medicine in you (Anonymous 2014, interview by
author, June 18).
Plant dietas are rather tedious and physically challenging
since some of the plants ingested have noticeable effects on
the body, especially in conjunction with a limited diet
consisting mostly of specified species of fish and birds, rice,
and plantains or manioc. According to some, fish with teeth
are not allowed because they eat Bbasura^ (garbage), while
others explained that their lineage did not consume fish with
teeth because they are aggressive. Fish with vivid colors are
not allowed to avoid the dieter’s skin taking on those colors
since they are ingesting not only the meat of the animal but its
properties as well.
Ideally, dieters should not undertake vigorous physical
activity and are expected to spend most of their time lying
in their hammock or bed—in other words, they are sup-
posed to behave as if they were sick—unless their diet
requires them to bathe a certain number of times a day.
Dieters are required to be isolated from other people as
much as possible, and usually stay in a small hut in the
jungle called a tambo for most of the duration of the dieta.
I was told that during the dieta one feels closer to the
jungle and the plants and animals making it difficult to
return to normal life especially in an urban environment.
During the dieta, the spirits of the trees or plants enter the
dietero’s body, where they teach literally from inside out as
well as on during dreams. Some of the common plants used
around Iquitos are ajo sacha, ayahuma, huayracaspi, lupuna
blanca, capirona, huaca purana, huacapú, bobinsana,
chullachaquicaspi, cumaceba, tamamuri, chuchuhuasi and
remocaspi (Table 1). Other researchers have recorded between
55 (Jauregui et al. 2011) and 106 plant species (Sanz-Biset
and Cañigueral 2011) used in dietas in the Peruvian Amazon
alone. Each plant has certain properties. For example, ajo
sacha treats problems of pain and discomfort, generates heat
in the body, and reinforces overall physical strength, while
chullachaquicaspi helps communication with the spirit world.
Healers disagree on the number of plants appropriate to a diet at
any given time. Most shamans will use one plant at a time to
learn from its spirit, although one informant reported using as
many as 25 plants at a time, an approach frowned upon by other
shamans and experienced users who argued that it would be
impossible to learn anything if from so many at the same time.
Often shamans will use certain trees or plants for protec-
tion. For example, a shaman with whom I worked in 2014
used the ayahuma tree, which he had been taught was very
powerful and a good guardian, to fortify himself because he
was experiencing attacks from other shamans during his
Hum Ecol

Table 1 List of plants mentioned

Vernacular name Scientific name

Ajo Sacha Mansoa alliacea (Lem.) Gentry4, 5, Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken2
Ayahuma Couroupita guianensis Aubl.1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Ayahuasca Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.) Morton2, 3, 4
Bobinsana Calliandra angustifolia Spruce ex Benth.1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Camalonga Strychnos sp.
Capirona (negro) Calycophyllum spruceanum (Benth.) Hook.f. ex K.Schum.1, 2, 4, 5 or
Capirona decorticans Spruce5, 6
Catahua Hura crepitans L.1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Chacruna Psychotria viridis Ruiz & Pav.1, 3, 5, 6
Chagropanga, Chaliponga, Diplopterys cabrerana (Cuatrec.) B.Gates3, 5
Huambisa
Chiricaspi Brunfelsia chiricaspi Plowman1, 3, 5
Chiricsanango, Brunfelsia grandiflora D. Don1, 2, 5, 6, Brunfelsia chiricsanango Plowman4, 5
Chuchuhuasha
Chuchuhuasi, chuchuhuasa Maytenus macrocarpa (R. & P.) Briq.1, 3, or Maytenus ebenifolia Reiss.4, 5, 6,
Maytenus boaria Molina2, Heisteria acuminata (Humb. & Bonpl.) Engl.2
Chullachaqui caspi Remijia peruviana Standl.1, 3, Tovomita sp.4, 5, 6
Cumaceba Swartzia polyphylla DC.1, 2
Huacapú Minquartia guianensis Aubl.1, 2 or Vouacapoua americana Aubl.4, 5, 6
Huacapurana Campsiandra comosa Benth.2
Huayracaspi Sterculia apetala (Jacq.) H. Karst.2, Cedrelinga catanaeformis Ducke1, 4, 5, 6
Lupuna, Lupuna blanca Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Mapacho Nicotiana tabacum L.1, 5
Ojé Ficus insipida Willd.1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Piñon blanco Jatropha curcas L.1, 2, 3
Piñon rojo, piñon negro, Jatropha gossypiifolia L.1, 2, 3, 5
piñon colorado
Patiquina Dieffenbachia spp.1, 2, 5
Punga amarilla Pseudobombax munguba (Mart. & Zucc.) Dugand
Remo caspi Aspidosperma excelsum Benth.1, 2, Pithecellobium laetum (Poepp.) Benth.4, 5,
6

Shiwawaku Dipteryx odorata (Aubl.) Willd.2

Tahuari Tabebuia sp.5, 6, Tabebuia heteropoda (DC.) Sandwith.4, 5, Anthodiscus
pilosus Ducke4, 5, Vitex triflora Vahl.4, 5
Tamamuri Brosimum acutifolium Huber1, 2
Toé, floripondio Brugmansia suaveolens (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Bercht. & J.Presl1, 2, 4, 5
Uchu sanango Tabernaemontana sp. 4, 5, 6

Sources:
1. Duke and Vásquez 1994
2. Duke et al. 2009
3. Schultes and Raffauf 1990
4. McKenna, Luna, and Towers 1995
5. López Vinatea 2000
6. Luna 1984

ceremonies. The spirit of ayahuma is believed to be a headless Conclusion

man dressed in black that can teach sorcery and at the same
time how to protect oneself from it. The dieta consisted of
drinking an infusion of the ayahuma bark on the first day
and bathing with the pulp of its fruit on subsequent days to
protect the body.
Local epistemologies depart from western dualisms and
their study offers a unique window into local eco-
cosmologies that can enrich our understanding of human-
nature relationships and thus should form part of future

research in the area. If we are to attempt to reconceptualize
relationships between humans and non-humans as has been
argued in recent years (Daly et al. 2016) we should actively
revalorize non-Eurocentric epistemologies by making them
central to our scientific investigations utilizing collabora-
tive ethnographic methodology. This way we can reverse
the process that Santos terms Bepistemicide^ and identifies
as a cognitive injustice: an unjustified lack of Bequity be-
tween different ways of knowing and different forms of
knowledge^ (2014: 237).
Amazonian shamanism involves the use of numerous plants
as technologies for modifying the body. In addition, there is a
great variety of specialized knowledge as evidenced in the
different types of specialists in the area such as paleros and
tabaqueros. This vast body of local knowledge needs to be at
the center of our research efforts to understand local concep-
tions and technologies of the body. Studies of the plants used in
dietas in Amazonia to date have either focused on their ritual-
istic or pharmacological aspects (Sanz-Biset and Cañigueral
2011). The practices I have discussed are not mere beliefs
informed by indigenous cosmologies but constitute technolo-
gies of modifying the body that need to be approached from
both ethnographic and pharmacological perspectives.
Recent discussions about the putative over-harvesting
of medicinal plants and their potential extinction (Opray
2017) have been limited by the lack of data. This is a
fertile area for scientists, both in the biological and so-
cial sciences, to join forces. I echo Hviding’s call for
expanding our analytical tools by including ones less
Bfirmly grounded in western ontology^ while avoiding
the Breification of nature^ (1996: 180). We can only
start crossing the abyssal line in western scientific
knowledge (Santos 2016) by engaging with local ontol-
ogies and epistemologies and acknowledging the exper-
tise of our interlocutors to work towards a sustainable
future and environmental justice (Santos 2016).
Moreover, ethnographic methodology can help us under-
stand how practices such as those I have discussed here
shape particular human-nature entanglements and ways
of responding to environmental degradation that might
not have been recognized by formal, science-based
models.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Informed Consent The human research protocol for this research was
approved by the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as Luther
College Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and informed consent was
obtained from all participants.
Conflict of Interest The author declares she has no conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Hum Ecol
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