Ketamine and ibogaine, both noncompetitive antagonists of the NMDA receptor, can induce experiences resembling near-death experiences (NDEs), but the character of these experiences differs markedly depending on the context of use—recreational versus operating room for ketamine, and hallucinatory versus initiatic ritual for ibogaine. In initiatic rituals, ibogaine can induce a superficial coma state. These observations raise the question of whether chemically-induced NDE-like experiences stem from the specific substance or from an actual comatose state.
Historical accounts of near-death experiences are rare in indigenous African societies, according to a survey of ethnographic, explorer, and missionary literature. Correspondingly, mythological narratives of journeys to afterlife realms are scarce, and there is little concern with afterlife speculation. Instead, many African peoples focused on ancestral spirits, spirit possession, sorcery, and precipitous burial practices that limited NDE occurrences. NDEs were sometimes viewed as aberrational, making individuals reluctant to report them. In such cultural contexts, NDEs could not have significantly shaped afterlife beliefs.