Copyright by Jonathan Lowell 2013 The Thesis Committee for Jonathan Thomas Lowell Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Into and Out of the Forest: Change and Community in Céu do Mapiá APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Paul C. Adams Jacqueline Vadjunec Gregory W. Knapp Into and Out of the Forest: Change and Community in Céu do Mapiá by Jonathan Thomas Lowell, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents who have always supported me while I have been on the circuitous paths I have taken to get here. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the community of Céu do Mapiá for welcoming me into their midst with support and smiles, and especially to all those who were willing interview participants, for their thoughtfulness. Thank you to Trey and Luis Fernando for being my initial contacts; to Maria Eugenia, Tiêr, and Josie for your hospitality; to Ana Carolina for letting me participate in her workshops in Céu do Mapiá; to Lou Gold and Bia Labate for being sounding boards for my ideas and for giving me even more. Thank you to Ivi Santos for companionship and hospitality during my time in Rio Branco; to all my colleagues in the geography department at University of Texas at Austin; to Michal for being by my side during my early ayahuasca sessions. Thank you to Ilex paraguariensis for keeping me awake and giving me the strength to continue; to my family for their support. Thank you to Vanessa for keeping me grounded and for the encouragement. I would especially like to thank my committee members. Paul Adams for pushing me as a writer and thinker; Jackie Vadjunec for suggesting this project idea in the first place, her knowledge and contacts in Acre, and her encouragement throughout; Greg Knapp for the invigorating brainstorming sessions early on in this process and thoughtful feedback at the end. v Abstract Into and Out of the Forest: Change and Community in Céu do Mapiá Jonathan Thomas Lowell, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Paul C. Adams Céu do Mapiá is a community of people living in the rainforest in the southwestern quadrant of Brazil. It was founded in 1983 by ex-rubber tapper Sebastião Mota de Melo and a collection of followers of the religion known as “Santo Daime.” These men and women were seeking to create a “New World,” separating themselves from a society that was undergoing a great deal of upheaval as the period marked the initial phases of major deforestation in the Amazon. The community, therefore, offered a chance of escape from the devastation around them and the freedom to practice their religious beliefs. ‘The Holy Gift,’ as it translates in Portuguese, Santo Daime is a religion that melds together popular Roman Catholicism and indigenous ayahuasca use, as well as Afro-Brazilian spirit possession, Amazonian encantaria, and most recently, New Age beliefs and concepts. Ayahuasca is a concoction of two plants, B. caapi and P. viridis, that produces psychotropic effects and has been widely consumed among indigenous tribes in the Amazon. However, in the context of Santo Daime, it has been deemed a kind of sacrament, the central force of a religious movement that has expanded vi from its corner in the Amazon into urban centers across Brazil and into Europe, North America, and Japan. Though maintaining a fairly small following of 10,000, Santo Daime has become a global religious movement. This thesis attempts to unravel two seemingly contradictory processes embodied in the community of Céu do Mapiá: separation and expansion. First, I outline the trajectory of the community from its initial ideals to its later entanglements with state and other international actors. Second, I trace the network of people, ideas, and goods that have become a part of Santo Daime’s international expansion. Third, I discuss the contemporary everyday rhythms in the communities and how they have been shaped by the various relationships that have developed through this expansion, positing that place is a nexus of relations. Keywords: Amazon; religion; Santo Daime; intentional community vii Table of Contents List of Figures .........................................................................................................x Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................1 Orientation I: Walking Through the Site ........................................................1 Orientation II: Santo Daime, a Brazilian Ayahuasca Religion .......................6 Orientation III: The Geographic and Social Contexts ..................................11 Writing the Amazon: Theoretical Perspectives ............................................14 Methodology & Positionality ........................................................................21 Layout of the Work .......................................................................................28 Chapter Two: Liminality and Legitimacy: The Historical Roots of Santo Daime 31 Introduction ...................................................................................................31 The Rubber Boom and Northeastern Migration ...........................................35 Life in the Seringal .......................................................................................38 The Religious Milieu of Acre .......................................................................40 Movement into the City ................................................................................45 Conclusion ....................................................................................................49 Chapter Three: An Evolving Home .......................................................................52 Prologue ........................................................................................................52 Introduction ...................................................................................................54 The Crisis ......................................................................................................61 Settling in Céu do Mapiá ..............................................................................64 Entanglements with the Outside ...................................................................68 The Turning Point of the 1990s and the Limbo of Modernity ......................74 Conclusion ....................................................................................................83 Chapter Four: Plant Routes and Global Shamans ..................................................87 Introduction ...................................................................................................87 viii Despedida, or the Origins of the Santo Daime Network ..............................92 The Spread of Santo Daime into Europe ......................................................97 The Ayahuasca Milieu ................................................................................102 Santo Daime on the Global Stage ...............................................................106 'Following the Daime' .................................................................................111 Conclusion ..................................................................................................115 Chapter Five: Another Green World....................................................................118 Introduction .................................................................................................118 Sounds in the Morning ................................................................................121 Céu do Mapiá in the Afternoon ..................................................................127 Ritual Nights ...............................................................................................130 Conclusion ..................................................................................................132 Chapter Six: Conclusion ......................................................................................133 References ............................................................................................................138 ix List of Figures Figure 1: Photo: The church under construction ................................................4 Figure 2: Map ...................................................................................................12 Figure 3: Photo: A mapiense in her home ........................................................28 Figure 4: Photo: Bridge across the igarapé ......................................................30 Figure 5: Photo: Raimundo Irineu Serra with followers ..................................36 Figure 6: Old newspaper photo of the community ...........................................66 Figure 7: Timeline ............................................................................................79 Figure 8: Photo: On the Purus River ................................................................93 Figure 9: Photo: Sandy trail through the forest ..............................................122 x Chapter One: Introduction Orientation I: Walking through the site The early morning air in Céu do Mapiá is heavy as the humidity from the night condenses on the leaves. You can hear the drops hitting the ground in the