The Master Plant: Tobacco in Lowland South America

Description

Described as a 'master plant' by many indigenous groups in lowland South America, tobacco is an essential part of shamanic ritual, as well as a source of everyday health, wellbeing and community. In sharp contrast to the condemnation of the tobacco industry and its place in contemporary public health discourse, the book considers tobacco in a more nuanced light, as an agent both of enlightenment and destruction.Exploring the role of tobacco in the lives of indigenous peoples, The Master Plant offers an important and unique contribution to this field of study through its focus on lowland South America: the historical source region of this controversial plant, yet rarely discussed in recent scholarship. The ten chapters in this collection bring together ethnographic accounts, key developments in anthropological theory and emergent public health responses to indigenous tobacco use. Moving from a historical study of tobacco usage - covering the initial domestication of wild varieties and its value as a commodity in colonial times - to an examination of the transcendent properties of tobacco, and the magic, symbolism and healing properties associated with it, the authors present wide-ranging perspectives on the history and cultural significance of this important plant. The final part of the book examines the changing landscape of tobacco use in these communities today, set against the backdrop of the increasing power of the national and transnational tobacco industry.The first critical overview of tobacco and its uses across lowland South America, this book encourages new ways of thinking about the problems of commercially exploited tobacco both within and beyond this source region.

Andrew Russell is a Reader in the Department of Anthropology and a Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham University, UK.Elizabeth Rahman is a social and medical anthropologist based at the University of Oxford, UK and is a Postdoctoral Associate of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology.

[An] interesting book ... [that presents] anthropological insights on different uses of tobacco among indigenous peoples of Western Amazonia. * Anthropos * Tobacco, the ubiquitous and foundational plant of South American Indian shamanism, has too often been taken for granted. This edited collection puts tobacco back in the limelight where it rightly belongs. With its broad-ranging ethnographic cases, historical depth, varied analytic approaches and contemporary relevance, this landmark collection will remain the standard reference for years to come. With The Master Plant, Russell and Rahman have created an invaluable and pragmatic resource about people in Lowland South America who integrate tobacco into ritual practices, including personal transcendence through shamanism. The authors promote a discourse that moves beyond the view of tobacco use as vehicle for tobacco industry profits. This book should be required reading for global public health and tobacco control researchers, policy makers and advocates, who see themselves working in a culturally competent manner with non-dominant communities.