Shamans’ gardens: sites of creative equivocation between Indigenous and internationalized ayahuasca shamanism

If ayahuasca shamanism is now well studied, the medicinal plant gardens that form a standard element of ayahuasca centers have received less attention. Based on detailed mapping, recorded commentaries, and an accompanying website (https://yakumamaylivepharmacy.org), this paper provides concise data about the range of plants found in one such garden. Exploring the medicinal gardens’ relations to home gardens and swiddens, we identify a relatively stable plant set, typical of Amazonian vegetalismo, that defines shamans’ gardens as a genre in centers of ayahuasca shamanism. With visitors developing personal relationships with plants and with shamans adopting the vocabulary of biomedicine and psychotherapy, “ethnobotanical gardens” provide sites of constructive equivocation where contrasting cultural assumptions find partial accommodation.