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dyloxx's review against another edition
4.0
While Tuckers book suffers from an injection of clunky, personal commentary espousing his primal anarchist beliefs; regardless of whether you agree with said beliefs, this book starts an essential conversation regarding the extractivist and neo-colonialist culture surrounding contemporary ayahuasaca tourism. His historical account of colonialism's impact on Indigenous Amazonian groups, and how it gave way to the construction of the ayahuasca culture we know today, was well researched and incurred a conclusion that surprised me and, ultimately, placed me in agreement with Tucker's own thesis: that "the ayahuasca eco-tourism industry is just another face of the frontier reality of the Amazon. Only in this version, it is the shifting cultural memory - itself a response to the reality of colonization - that is being mined and mimicked in an act of cultural appropriation."
As I write this review, it is Austalia day here down under. A day that marks the arrival of the first fleet; a day that symbolizes both the beginning of Australia as a colony, but also as a day that collapsed into genocide and enslavement for thousands of Aboriginal people who had dwelled here for generations earlier. Consequently, for some it is a day of celebration, while for others, it is a day of protesting the residue of colonial violence that caused, and continues to cause, so much pain for many Aboriginal people. Reading Tuckers book today, and watching the protests and rally's on TV and social media, reminds me that colonisation (and decolonisation) are not static, historical events, but are rather ongoing realities that are manifesting themselves in new ways that respond to the ongoing needs of capitalist culture.
While other reviews expand on the problem highlighted in the beginning of this one, and while I agree with them; ultimately, I believe this is an underrated book that deserves to be read. More than just a book on ayahuasca, it is a book that reveals an aspect of colonialism's operation in the modern world. I recommend watching 'The Last Shaman' documentary by Daz Regan after reading this book; it is a compelling contrast!
As I write this review, it is Austalia day here down under. A day that marks the arrival of the first fleet; a day that symbolizes both the beginning of Australia as a colony, but also as a day that collapsed into genocide and enslavement for thousands of Aboriginal people who had dwelled here for generations earlier. Consequently, for some it is a day of celebration, while for others, it is a day of protesting the residue of colonial violence that caused, and continues to cause, so much pain for many Aboriginal people. Reading Tuckers book today, and watching the protests and rally's on TV and social media, reminds me that colonisation (and decolonisation) are not static, historical events, but are rather ongoing realities that are manifesting themselves in new ways that respond to the ongoing needs of capitalist culture.
While other reviews expand on the problem highlighted in the beginning of this one, and while I agree with them; ultimately, I believe this is an underrated book that deserves to be read. More than just a book on ayahuasca, it is a book that reveals an aspect of colonialism's operation in the modern world. I recommend watching 'The Last Shaman' documentary by Daz Regan after reading this book; it is a compelling contrast!
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