Anthropology Today
April 1, 2019
Ruth Goldstein
37 citations
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.
Anthropology Today
May 31, 2023
Nicolas Langlitz
13 citations
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.
Anthropology Today
December 1, 2023
Alex K. Gearin
1 citation
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.
Anthropology Today
April 1, 2020
Kristina Jonutytė
Online and local reactions to a Yakut shaman's 2019 protest march to Moscow reveal a deep rift between distant supporters and local observers, rooted in Russia's historical relationship with its own orient. The shaman, Alexandr Gabyshev, aimed to drive President Putin out of the Kremlin. Discourses of support function as a form of 'removal' within the nation state, according to the authors, who draw on Saxer and Andersson's concept. The disjunction, though taking new forms, is grounded in a long history of Russia's complicated relationship with its eastern territories.