Smoking as Communication in Rastafari: Reasonings with ‘Professional’ Smokers and ‘Plant Teachers’

Among Rastafari in England, smoking cannabis and tobacco is a professional activity that demonstrates dedication to the movement, aids in learning dialects, and enables communication with herbs as a 'plant teacher'—a natural divinatory mechanism providing esoteric knowledge to skilled adepts. This ethnographic research shows that smoking rituals facilitate multispecies communication between professional smokers and plant teachers, recasting agency in anthropological studies of smoking and deepening understanding of consciousness and intentionality in both humans and plants.

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Abstract

In Rastafari smoking herbs (cannabis) and tobacco is central to spiritual practices, including grounding (the process of initiation into Rastafari) and reasoning (ritual discussions). This paper presents ethnographic research with Rastafari smokers in England. It shows that smoking is considered a ‘professional’ activity that communicates dedication to the movement, aids in learning different dialects, and facilitates experiences of communication with herbs ‘herself’. Through rituals that ‘professional’ smokers engage in herbs becomes a ‘plant teacher’, which Tupper [2008. The Globalization of Ayahuasca: Harm Reduction or Benefit Maximization? International Journal of Drug Policy, 19:300] defines as ‘a natural divinatory mechanism that can provide esoteric knowledge to adepts skilled in negotiating its remarkable effects’. Appreciation of smoking as a form of multispecies communication between ‘professional’ smokers and ‘plant teachers’ recasts the role of agency in anthropological studies of smoking and contributes to our understanding of consciousness and intentionality in both humans and plants.