A expansão do uso da ayahuasca nos centros urbanos do Brasil : apontamentos sobre os neo-ayahuasqueiros e o centro Alquimistas da Alma em Mato Grosso

Abstract

This research is situated in the field of history of religions, with the aim of investigating new modalities of ayahuasca use in urban centers of Brazilian society. The theoretical assumptions for the research were the panorama of theoretical and methodological advances in the historiography of religions, as well as the concepts of the Brazilian ayahuasca field and urban ayahuasca consumption network developed by anthropologist Beatriz Caiuby Labate in the book The Reinvention of the Use of Ayahuasca in Urban Centers. Therefore, field observations were carried out, as well as interviews with participants of Alquimistas da Alma, a center that uses ayahuasca, in order to investigate the object. It was possible to trace the formation of traditional ayahuasca religions, as well as the expansion movement of these religions and the emergence of new religious trends that ambiguously represent the rupture/connection with traditional ayahuasca groups. Furthermore, the characteristics of the investigated group were presented and classified as neo-ayahuasqueiros, in the same way that they were correlated with traditional ayahuasca religions and the New Age movement. Finally, the potential of the field of study presented on neo-ayahuasca religions was also verified.