"Remedy of Science" and "Remedy of Spirit": the urban uses of the secretion of kambô (Phyllomedusa bicolor)

Abstract

Since the second half of the last century, large cities in Brazil began to see the diffusion of the use of a secretion from the frog Phyllomedusa bicolor. Traditionally used as a stimulant and an invigorating agent for hunting by indigenous groups in the southeast of the Amazon (such as the Katukina, Yawanawá and the Kaxinawá), kambô has found a double interest in urban centers: as a "remedy of science", in which biochemical properties are stressed, and as a "remedy of spirit", in which the "indigenous origins" are more valued. The urban diffusion of the use of kambô has mainly taken place via healing clinics which offer alternative therapies and via the Brazilian ayahuasca religions. Kambô providers are quite diverse, including indigenous healers, ex-rubber tapers, holistic therapists and doctors. In this article we present an ethnography of the diffusion of the use of kambô. The analysis focuses mostly on the discourses that various providers have developed around the use of this secretion, believed by some to be a kind of ‘power plant’ analogous to peyote and ayahuasca.