Abstract In this article the authors trace the many names of the coca—a controversial yet culturally significant plant species deeply rooted in Andean history. The authors critically engage with the complex task of naming, designating, and representing this group of plants, tracing diverse practices across scientific, vernacular, and artistic domains. To do so, they contrast scientific names and their philosophical foundations with Indigenous symbolic references, recent vernacular terms used in illicit cultivation contexts, and contemporary artistic representations. They argue that these diverse naming practices reflect fundamentally different ways of knowing and relating to coca. Understanding this contrast invites the reimagination of coca beyond the narrow frames of criminalization and scientific objectification. By recovering their many names, this article reclaims the imagination of coca as vegetal beings entwined with memory, ritual, labor, and land—meanings that far transcend its more recent association with the illicit drug trade.
Ávila et al. (Sun,) studied this question.