How Religion, Race, and the Weedy Agency of Plants Shape Amazonian Home Gardens

This article discusses ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico-medicinal plants between Evangelical Christians and Amazonian folk Catholics. This highlights how the histories of ethnic and racial marginalization that are indexed in their use are a factor in Evangelicals’ reasons to create a distance from such plants but the weedy nature of these magico-medicinal plants defy the human dogma and have the agency of their own.

Abstract

“Introduction: Across Brazilian Amazonia, it is common to find rural households that keep plants with magico-medicinal properties in their home gardens. Despite widespread occurrence of such plants, some Amazonians—especially in Evangelical communities—openly criticize their use as incongruent with Christian belief and practice.

Methods: In this article, I offer ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico-medicinal plants between Evangelical Christians and Amazonian folk Catholics, the latter of whom borrow heavily from Afro-Brazilian and indigenous religions.

Results: I contend that Evangelicals’ attempts to establish distance from such plants is due in part to histories of ethnic and racial marginalization that are indexed in their use.

Discussion: Still, many magico-medicinal plants are weedy species that actively colonize areas occupied by humans, thus openly defying Evangelical attempts to evade them. In this manner, magico-medicinal plants are not just subject to human agencies, but are arguably agents in their own right.“

Authors: Nicholas C. Kawa