Nobody:
Absolutely nobody:
Me: I have finally figured out why the whole Ayahuasca tourism thing bothers me - a thread with a CW for cultural appropriation and violence.
For context I am Peruvian Mestizo; one of my much beloved grandmothers was an indigenous Andean woman. /1

Much of what informs my perspective here is based on what she taught me and what my father who spent time traveling around Peru in his youth has shared with me.
The word Ayahuasca roughly translates to “rope for the dead” and comes from the practice of tying a rope around a /2

Corpses neck to prevent a supay (demon) from possessing the body. The herbal tea commonly known as Ayahuasca has herbs mixed in that will make one purge the contents of ones stomach as part of an exorcism ceremony; the idea being that you are drinking the tea to rid your body /3

Of a supay which has taken possession of your body.
It should go without saying but indigenous Andeans were murdered by the Conquistadors and tortured until they accepted Catholicism; to this day indigenous people and their customs are discriminated against/4

Enter the modern day where white people go to places like Peru to have an “experience” or some other woo woo BS by partaking in a Ayahuasca “Ceremony” the thing is this a) a whole lot of these “shamans” are just playing a role for the tourists and Peru can be super dangerous /5

It is highly irresponsible to be in a country where mugging or kidnapping of gringos is a possibility. b) a lot of the time the purging herbs are excluded so that it’s just a trip. I have no problem with people wanting to get high but just call it what it is. /6

These people are only going through with it to get high and completely ignore all the cultural, religious/spiritual context of the ceremony, they don’t even know the purpose of the ceremony to begin with or what indigenous folk suffered to keep their beliefs and customs alive. /7

c) additionally upsetting is how the media consistently depicts Latin Americans as being drug dealers/hopeless addicts or at best some kind of exotic cooked witch doctor but white people who do drugs are on a journey of self discovery and you better believe that /8

Actual shamans have been locked up and even in some cases murdered by authorities for protecting their way of life. d) the white is right narrative hurts us; it’s why Quechua is becoming a dead language. Because of all the shame that one learns to have. Everyone loves talking / 9

Talking about their “European” heritage no matter how marginal and faint it is but have no pride in their indigenous roots.
The word “Cholo” is still a slur; my grandmother was made to feel shame for her beliefs but sure go ahead and “find yourself” without the consequences /10

That indigenous people had to pay and continue to pay.

/end