Light and Shadow in the Coca Leaf. From the Sacrality of the Inalmama               to Narco-Art

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Published: 2025-09-30
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21134/s17dbw78

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Laura González Tinoco
Independent Researcher, SP.

Abstract

This article analyzes the duality of the coca leaf to explore its ancestral cultural significance and its stigmatization in the contemporary context. While for Andean civilizations it has been a sacred plant with medicinal and ritual uses, at the global level it is condemned for its association with drug trafficking, leading to its demonization and ongoing controversy, often resulting in the eradication of coca fields. Through art and museum representations, it becomes evident how narcoculture has gained greater visibility than artistic expressions that defend the traditional value of the coca leaf. This dichotomy not only reflects a struggle over the ancestral meaning of the plant but also the influence of dominant ideological discourses that shape global perceptions of coca and its impact on contemporary society.

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Article Details

Issue

No. 2 (2025): RAW MATTER. Artistic researchs and discourses on the states of matter: liquid, solid, ephemeral, immaterial

Section

MONOGRÁFICO
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Laura González Tinoco, Independent Researcher, SP.

(she) Holds a PhD in Society and Culture, with a specialization in History, Anthropology, Art, and Heritage. She is affiliated with the Department of Art History at the University of Barcelona, where she has built an academic career that combines art history with research on Andean culture and thought. She previously completed a Master’s degree in Advanced Studies in Art History and has deepened her work through an interdisciplinary approach that includes sociology of art, cultural anthropology, and postcolonial studies applied to Latin America.

Her doctoral thesis, The Andean Worldview and Mamani Mamani. The Value of the Image as an Exaltation of Indigenous Identity, reveals the indigenous thought and visual imaginary of Bolivia's ancestral cultures through the paintings of Roberto Mamani Mamani. Her symbolism depicts an animated universe where human beings are children of the earth Pachamama and the sun Inti, where elements such as the landscape, traditional textiles, the coca leaf, sacred animals and rituals serve as sources of inspiration and a celebration of indigenous peoples and their ancestral heritage.

How to Cite

González Tinoco, L. (2025). Light and Shadow in the Coca Leaf. From the Sacrality of the Inalmama               to Narco-Art. ReCIA - Journal of the Arts Research Centre, 2, 133-149. https://doi.org/10.21134/s17dbw78

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