Ancestral Medicine on the Rise. Reemergence of ancestral medicine and spirituality in Saraguro, and its transformative effects.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the revival of pre-Columbian ancestral medicine and spirituality in Saraguro, Ecuador, catalyzed by a minority within the indigenous population of Saraguro. In the thesis, I look at how this resurgence is affecting and contributing to a meaning change towards their cultural identity by looking at local, global and historical influences. The methods I have employed consists of interviews, participant observation and using film as a tool. The empirical data is based on a four-month fieldwork in the community of Ilincho in Saraguro where I stayed with a local family that has been and still is pioneering the revival process of the ancestral spirituality and medicine despite the strong stance of Catholicism in Saraguro. By staying with this family, that forms part of a group of Saraguros that are on the path of resurrecting their ancestral medicine and spirituality, I have investigated the use of hallucinogenic medicinal plants in ceremonial contexts, mainly the San Pedro cactus native to the area. I will argue that the resurrection of the ancestral medicine and spirituality is counteracting the acculturation that has historically taken place since the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, as well as the homogenizing pressure currently taking place due to globalization. I further argue that this resurrection is leading to contestation and reevaluation of European cultural exports such as neo liberal capitalism as well as the bio medical perspective on health. The scope of the thesis mainly encompasses the movement of the before mentioned minority group within Saraguro, but as I will argue, the resurrection of the ancestral medicine and spirituality is connected with a process stretching all throughout the American continent.