Before I am able to reflect on the readings themselves, I feel like I need to reflect on myself in regards to the content that was posted for this unit. Heading into the second unit, I have never even heard of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous group nor have I ever heard of ayahuasca. The only mention of this group I have experienced was in the first class when the professor glossed over the fact that we would be studying them.

I enjoyed reading Homan’s article because I felt that it did a good job at providing fundamental knowledge of what ayahuasca is. Like I mentioned above, I have never heard of ayahuasca prior to taking this class so this concept is new to me. I really had not imagined that what was to be introduced would be along the lines of “sorcery” or “witchcraft”, which are the exact words Homan (2017) used in his article (p. 165). Going along the article, I was surprised to learn that the use of ayahuasca was popular enough to garner a tourism market. I found it interesting learning about the effects that ayahuasca tourism had on the local regions of practice. The one thing that stood out was the health and safety portion of the article. It was outlined in the article that, “there have been a number of sexual assaults reported following the ingestion of ayahuasca…” (Homan, 2017, p. 171).

Although I found Homan’s article more interesting and helpful to understanding the concept of ayahuasca, I liked reading through the interview between Rumrill and Arrevalo. It gave an in-depth look into ayahuasca, through someone who is directly involved with it. I found that the point of interest in this reading was when he mentioned the reasoning for westerners taking ayahuasca, in which he said they do it to “resolve personal problems” (de Rios, 2005, p. 203).

References

Homan, J. (2017). Vitality of Indigenous Religions. Routledge.

De Rios, M. D. (2005). Interview with Guillermo Arrevalo, a Shipibo Urban Shaman, by Roger Rumrill. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 37(2), 203-207).