Decolonial-Feminist Account of Yagé

Abstract

This research aims to explore, expose and problematize the Western scholarly discourse produced about yagé, an indigenous medicine used in the Amazon region of Colombia. Drawing upon what has been said in scholarly literature about this indigenous medicine, under the label “Ayahuasca”, I show how the construct of it by Western scholars focus only in the chemical and therefore, medical aspects of it. Analyzing the Western hegemonic discourse allows me to expose the epistemic location of such knowledge production. A knowledge production that denies the spiritual side involved in a yagé experience, as well as the indigenous knowledge required for it to be fully effective. I argue then, that Ayahuasca, as a commodified version of yage, is yet another colonial project. Which opens up the possibility of cultural (mis-)appropriation with psychological consequences for those who use the brew out of its indigenous context, as I demonstrate through the lived experience of 3 women living in the Netherlands. Working with decolonial and feminist theory, I also provide a counternarrative by documenting the knowledge coming from within the indigenous context. For this purpose, I use 10 Colombian women's lived experience, in addition to the knowledge and experience coming from a male Colombian-indigenous-curandero. This is weaved together by engaging with my own lived experience with yagé. The analysis of the Western hegemonic discourse aims then to contribute to the current efforts of decolonial thinkers whose intention is to demonstrate how Western knowledge production machinery is not innocent, nor apolitical. While, by locating participant’s narratives at the center of the counter-narrative, this research elucidates as well how the decolonial option, as opposed to the colonial way of producing knowledge, can be put to work in the making of counter-discourses, whilst affirming the rights of the racialized-gendered Other in producing/maintaining their own knowledge.