Mambe in urban contexts, or the production of new forms of consumption

• Main Author: Salima Cure
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2015-10-01
• Series: Mundo Amazónico
• Subjects: coca; mambe; consumo urbano del mambe; constitución de identidades; representaciones de lo indígena; Amazonia colombiana
• Online Access: http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/imanimundo/article/view/46063
• ISSN: 2145-5074; 2145-5082

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">This article analyses the consumption of Amazonian </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">(coca powder) in urban contexts amongst non-indigenous populations in Leticia and Bogotá. The interest in this research sprung from the observation of the steady rise in the consumption of </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">within the non-indigenous population. This observation made me question on the cultural contexts in which </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">is being used and incorporated and on the cultural meaning associated with its use. In Leticia, I focused my research on Universidad Nacional, where professors, researchers and students frequently consume </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe</span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">. In Bogotá, I chose a homeopathy medical centre in which </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">is used for therapeutic reasons and a spiritual community guided by a re-ethnicized indigenous leader. The analysis delves into the social relationships along the new routes of circulation and consumption of mambe and into the new scenarios for inter-ethnic relations; and also into the construction of indigenous representations and identity formation of those who use </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">in diverse practices </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">and meanings and the different ways in which </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; font-style: italic; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">mambe </span><span style="font-size: 8.000000pt; font-family: 'CharisSIL'; color: rgb(26.400000%, 25.300000%, 25.600000%);">is consumed. </span></p></div></div></div>