Decolonization is a metaphor towards a different ethic. The case from psychedelic studies
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews September 27, 2022 Christine Hauskeller, Taline Artinian, Amelia Fiske et al. 26 citations
The study of psychedelics is troubled by dualisms—subject and object, self and other, culture and nature, synthetic and natural, colonizer and indigenous, literal and metaphorical—that appear in both colonial and decolonial thought. Drawing on feminist and decolonial theory and a discussion of metaphor, the authors argue that research often lacks critical engagement with these binaries. A narrow view of coloniality limits critiques of contemporary capitalism, including the progressive colonization of the life-world and commodification of psychedelic experiences. Fears that decolonization is becoming merely a 'metaphor' implicitly reinforce the conceptual power dynamics of colonization. As a critical metaphor, decolonization can help reassess problematic distinctions shaping thinking, material realities, and experiences.