8 September 2019
The word ayahuasca is derived from Quechua, a native South American language, and can be interpreted to mean ‘liana of the soul’. Ayahuasca is a mind-expanding mixture of two plants, the ayahuasca vine and the leaf of the yakruna plant. Shamans in the Amazon have been cooking and drinking the mixture for centuries and regard the ayahuasca liana as a sacred plant. The drink is a key part of native botanical medicine, used to communicate with nature, make contact with ancestors and as a medicine.
The use of ayahuasca first reached Europe in the 1990s, but over the past five years, its popularity in the West has been increasing. Here in the Netherlands, the number of providers has been increasing steadily, while in the Amazon, ‘ayahuasca tourism’ targeted at international visitors is on the rise. But with this growth come risks and commercialisation. And because there is no control or regulation of the providers, the quality of ayahuasca ‘sessions’ varies, as do the (psychological) health risks associated with the use of ayahuasca, according to Jellinek, a Dutch organisation specialising in drugs and addiction.
What does it really mean to remove a medicinal substance so rooted in the philosophy of an indigenous community from its local context and transfer it to other parts of the world? How are these types of medicinal products used by indigenous communities and how does this relate to their use elsewhere? How can it be that ayahuasca is a part of everyday life in the Amazon but is regarded as a controversial substance in the Netherlands?
On this theme afternoon we’ll take a closer look at the different uses of ayahuasca (and other comparable indigenous sacred plants) in various contexts and communities. The programme has been created in collaboration with the Research Center for Material Culture and Eddy Appels, director and programme maker at Cineblend who also hosts. Join us on the 8th of September and learn more about the controversial substance; ayahuasca.
