Drawing on conversations with a Brazilian shaman about biopiracy and weaving together literature from the ontological and botanical turns, the author argues that plant healers and practitioners—especially indigenous ones—are largely uncited in plant-centered discussions, a gap with both disciplinary and political consequences. In Brazil, indigenous claims for territory and sovereignty gain legitimacy when tied to cultural patrimony. Using ayahuasca as an example of collaborative survival between plants and people, the analysis shows how the botanical turn is entangled with semiotic-material stakes in traditional knowledge and territory claims. The author proposes possible ethnobotanies and methodologies of refusal that respect plant(ed)-human resistance.
As psychedelics move toward market approval in North America and Europe, societies may shift from repression to institutionalized use, joining other cultures that have done so. Anthropology's role in this 'psychedelic renaissance' should extend beyond medical studies into moral anthropology, because psychedelics often induce mystical-type experiences that challenge strict moral orders enforced through disciplinary practices. The article examines how cycles of hype and anti-hype recur with new drugs and questions what cultural consequences widespread mystical experiences might have for contemporary Western societies.
Wonder is often treated as an inherently positive emotion in psychology, but its effects depend on social context. This article examines a Chinese psychedelic user's DMT experience involving a humiliating encounter with a cosmic surveillance state. The ambiguity of psychedelic states, like wonder, arises from existential vulnerability, which can enable diverse social, moral, and psychological outcomes.