Fetishism of ‘Spiritual’ Experiences
After reading Tambiah – which spoke on fetishism of objects and how ‘spirituality’ is transcended to a material object, Renfrew’s idea that a new commodity is rather social than technical and Aldred’s plastic shamanism and how New Agers are taking Native American spirituality into a consumerist threshold even if they are in search for ‘spiritual wise Noble Savage,’ I turned to the idea of experiences as an commodity in recent times. The search for the ‘right and spiritual’ experience, as experience itself has become a commodity due to social values and demand. I found this experience – which takes entrepreneurs to Peru in order to try Ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a ‘shamanic’ drug which is used by many indigenous populations for certain occasions – however, as seen in this video the experience of taking ayahuasca is now being commoditized (and people paying over 11,000 USD!) to take this trip. As Alderd points out about New Age followers, “their imperialistically nostalgic fetishization of Native American spirituality hinders any recognition of their own historical and social complicity in the oppression of indigenous peoples.” I cannot help but think that the commodification of experiences and in this case, drugs, also have the same effect.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3068799/why-this-psychedelic-drug-is-drawing-entrepreneurs-to-peru
Contributed by KatiaDumont on 29/01/2018
