Medicines of the forest: cosmo-ontological conflicts and connections

Abstract

In this paper, I propose to describe some aspects of a recent movement around the so-called "medicines of the forest", mainly the nixi pae (ayahuasca) of the Huni Kuĩ (Kaxinawá). The proposal includes the monitoring of continuous flows between the "forest" and the "city" of the nixi pae, the so-called pajés and the emerging groups around them, evidencing ontological conflicts and connections. A significant contribution of this work may lie in feeding reflections in the ayahuasca research field from a cosmopolitical proposition (Stengers, 2007), which will seek to take nixi pae as a technology of connectivity. Thus, it is hoped to unfold the semantics of terms like cure and medicine through the pragmatics of collectives (of shamans, substances, spirits) in action: what effects do these generate when they act in network, what moves, what strengthens, what is left behind. The nixi pae will then appear as a key element in the activation of ontologically heterogeneous collectives, opening possibilities for encounters with otherness in attempts of composing spaces of coexistence.

Keywords:
ayahuasca; healing; cosmopolitics; connectivity