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).

All of the words that were written about undoubtedly hold importance to the course. Personally, I was interested in writing about either “food sovereignty” or “appropriation” because I think that those two concepts are quite interesting. While I was debating on which of these two terms do this blog post on, another term further down the list caught my eye. This term was “Anthropocene”. The reason that this term caught my attention is not because it is a new and unfamiliar concept, but rather, it is a term that I have heard about before.

I first learned of this term in a class I previously took this past Summer which was Environmental Politics. I remember the professor mentioning this term within the first few classes, much like how this word has been brought up right now. I wanted to write about and reflect on this term because I remember the feelings I felt within myself when it was mentioned. I remember this concept scared the life out of me because from my understanding, it loosely implied that the world was ending (lol). I got over that shock fairly quickly back then, but to see it now made me want to reflect on the time I learned it in my other class.

In terms of my current context, I was surprised to see the word pop up in this class, but in connection to the content of this class the term “Anthropocene” is relevant. Like the authors of the definition mentioned, the term is related to other concepts such as globalization and climate change. Personally, I’ve always focussed on the climate change aspect of this concept, as the preservation of the environment is key in this scenario. I have learned that the conservation of the environment will help slow down the impact of climate change, and like the authors said, a slow-down in climate change could directly reverse the negative impact of the Anthropocene.