Tradição e modernidade no campo ayahuasqueiro: uma análise a partir dos processos de regulamentação e patrimonialização da ayahuasca no Brasil no período de 1985/2016.

Abstract

This thesis discusses the dynamics of social and political articulation in the ayahuasqueiro field in Brazil through the analysis of the broad process of public recognition of ayahuasca, which includes both its normalization and its definition as a cultural patrimony. This process involves representative actors of the religions present in this field, the State, as well as groups and individuals outside the field identified with the use of ayahuasca in the state of Acre, in Brazil and in the world. The two processes, standardization and patrimonialization, were thought as potentially relevant to the sociological analysis. Their study demonstrates, through the analysis of the discourses of the actors involved, the disputes between social actors (from the field theory of Bourdieu) and their intentions and struggles to contemplate them. In addition, we will detail the establishment of differentiated settings (in the sense proposed by Elias), exploring the dynamics between tradition and modernity. The survey included a documentary analysis, a set of semi-structured interviews carried out with significant actors in the ayahuasqueiro field, with members of the judiciary, the Culture Ministry and with legitimized interpreters of the ayahuasca story (or Daime), as well as life stories of significant religious actors affiliated to the religious traditions present in the studied field. Our main thesis is that the processes analyzed represent times when tensions arising from the desire for recognition and legitimacy – understood in relation to the dialectic between tradition and modernity in the Brazilian ayahuasqueiro field - produce results intended and not intended by the actors in the field.