Lesley Wylie
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846319747
- eISBN:
- 9781781380932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846319747.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter will focus on the important Amazonian hallucinogenic drink – yagé, also known as ayahuasca. It discusses, in turn, oral and written accounts of yage by indigenous Amazonians, Creole, and ...
More
This chapter will focus on the important Amazonian hallucinogenic drink – yagé, also known as ayahuasca. It discusses, in turn, oral and written accounts of yage by indigenous Amazonians, Creole, and non-Latin American story-tellers and writers, including José Eustasio Rivera and William Burroughs. Prominent in all these Putumayan yage-narratives are descriptions of out-of-body experiences – of people traversing underwater and aerial dimensions, metamorphosing into animal form, or seeing far-off events. The narratives are characterized by fragmentation and non-linearity, and often try to convey heightened sensory perception through montage and synaesthesia. By comparing the content and, in particular, the style of these narratives, this chapter argues that there is, so to speak, a ‘yage aesthetics’ – a way of writing or speaking about the drug which transcends national, cultural, or linguistic borders.Less
This chapter will focus on the important Amazonian hallucinogenic drink – yagé, also known as ayahuasca. It discusses, in turn, oral and written accounts of yage by indigenous Amazonians, Creole, and non-Latin American story-tellers and writers, including José Eustasio Rivera and William Burroughs. Prominent in all these Putumayan yage-narratives are descriptions of out-of-body experiences – of people traversing underwater and aerial dimensions, metamorphosing into animal form, or seeing far-off events. The narratives are characterized by fragmentation and non-linearity, and often try to convey heightened sensory perception through montage and synaesthesia. By comparing the content and, in particular, the style of these narratives, this chapter argues that there is, so to speak, a ‘yage aesthetics’ – a way of writing or speaking about the drug which transcends national, cultural, or linguistic borders.
Alhena Caicedo Fernández
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199341191
- eISBN:
- 9780199379408
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341191.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Traditionally used by various ethnic groups and peasants in the region of Putumayo-Caqueta, Colombia, yage remained confined for decades to rural and urban folk sectors. However, since the early ...
More
Traditionally used by various ethnic groups and peasants in the region of Putumayo-Caqueta, Colombia, yage remained confined for decades to rural and urban folk sectors. However, since the early nineties, ritual consumption of yage has had a profuse dissemination among middle and elite social sectors in cities across the country. Increasingly, intellectuals and artists are inviting taitas (indigenous shamans) to perform yage ceremonies in the city. Offered as “traditional indigenous medicine,” yage consumption has been institutionalized around new taitas who combine practices of indigenous traditions with new ritual forms. More recently, urbanization of yage has led to the formation of clusters of neoyageceros around these new taitas. Best known as malocas, these groups have institutionalized ritual consumption of yage, offering numerous kinds of therapeutic and spiritual services. This chapter analyzes and contrasts two new taitas and their malocas in the city of Pasto, in southern Colombia.Less
Traditionally used by various ethnic groups and peasants in the region of Putumayo-Caqueta, Colombia, yage remained confined for decades to rural and urban folk sectors. However, since the early nineties, ritual consumption of yage has had a profuse dissemination among middle and elite social sectors in cities across the country. Increasingly, intellectuals and artists are inviting taitas (indigenous shamans) to perform yage ceremonies in the city. Offered as “traditional indigenous medicine,” yage consumption has been institutionalized around new taitas who combine practices of indigenous traditions with new ritual forms. More recently, urbanization of yage has led to the formation of clusters of neoyageceros around these new taitas. Best known as malocas, these groups have institutionalized ritual consumption of yage, offering numerous kinds of therapeutic and spiritual services. This chapter analyzes and contrasts two new taitas and their malocas in the city of Pasto, in southern Colombia.
