BOOKS
NOVELAyahuasca, Love, and a Troubled Soul
Ayahuasca, Love and a Troubled Soul is the story of Óscar Ríos, a young journalist who travels to the Peruvian Amazon in a naive quest for the lost paradise. Soon after his arrival at a Shipibo village, he is forced to question his preconceived ideas about indigenous spirituality when he meets Franky, a shaman who dreams of setting up a healing center for tourists. His hosts’ constant demands for money, the platonic fascination he feels for Ana, the youngest daughter of the shaman, and his extraordinary visionary experiences – which lead him to confront the profound meaning of life and death – awaken his fears and his distrust but also bring out his generosity and will to live.
This novel challenges the stereotyped notions of indigenous life and places the relationship between spiritual seekers and shamans in the context of the global economy. It is a much-needed reflection on tourism and spirituality in an endangered jungle: a visceral portrait of intercultural misunderstanding.
This novel challenges the stereotyped notions of indigenous life and places the relationship between spiritual seekers and shamans in the context of the global economy. It is a much-needed reflection on tourism and spirituality in an endangered jungle: a visceral portrait of intercultural misunderstanding.
MULTIMEDIA
Ayahuasca, Iquitos, and Monster Vorax
Ayahuasca, Iquitos and Monster Vorax, and A Cash Crop are the first two installments in a multimedia book series that blends ethnographic research, literature, and audiovisual storytelling to explore the extraordinary phenomenon of ayahuasca in Iquitos—a shamanic mecca where local traditions collide with global forces.
From healers serving their community to upscale spiritual retreats catering to foreign seekers, these works examine the profound transformations wrought by "ayahuasca tourism" on indigenous practices. And Monster Vorax: the ecological toll of soaring demand and the social upheaval fueled by sudden wealth in local communities.
PHOTOBOOKAyahuasca Between Two Worlds
Until a few decades ago, ayahuasca was seen as superstition or witchcraft—something for the ignorant or "savage Indians." Today, it is ritually consumed in cities across the Western world, studied in scientific research highlighting its therapeutic potential, and praised in mainstream publications worldwide.
Drawing on ten years of ethnographic research in the Amazon, the photobook Ayahuasca Entre Dos Mundos (Ayahuasca Between Two Worlds) embarks on a journey to the origins of ayahuasca shamanism, documenting both traditional practices and those adapted for the thousands of Westerners who travel to the jungle each year in search of visionary medicine. Combining photography with short literary pieces, it brings knowledge typically reserved for anthropologists to a general audience. But more than just an ethnographic study, Ayahuasca Between Two Worlds is an allegory of globalization—a critical lens revealing how the West expands across the planet, transforming everything in its path.
NARRATIVE ETHNOGRAPHYThe Age of Development
La Edad del Desarrollo (The Age of Development) is a fascinating ethnographic chronicle about the Shipibo people, an indigenous group from the Peruvian Amazon. With humor and tenderness, it follows the daily adventures of several young people while recalling with their elders the youth of bygone times. This monumental literary fresco offers a moving account of life in the jungle and the drastic cultural changes that have taken place since the mid-20th century, while questioning the way the West imposes its economy, laws, and morals in the most remote corners of the globe.
Rigorous in its ethnographic foundation, but heterodox in form, employing tools from the novel, short story, and popular essay genres, La Edad del Desarrollo was submitted as a thesis for the Master’s in Amazonian Studies at the National University of Colombia and received a laureate distinction. The jury described the work as “challenging and provocative,” “an exceptional example of ethnographic literature,” created “with a commendable narrative technique, designed for broad dissemination.” They concluded: “It evokes in the reader feelings and emotions, gratitude for having finished it, but also a longing to know more.”
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