- Course: Critical Perspectives on Knowledge Production in Psychedelic Science 2025 - November 20, 2024
- Indigenous Shamanic Knowledge Systems, Art and Creative Processes - November 14, 2024
- Course: Diversity, Culture and Social Justice in Psychedelics 2025 - November 7, 2024
Experts and Indigenous leaders provide critical context for ayahuasca in a global framework
Conversations about ayahuasca increasingly play out on an international stage. At this key moment, a deep understanding of ayahuasca’s historic, cultural and scientific importance – including misconceptions – is vital. Chacruna’s new course, Ayahuasca Healing, Science, and Indigenous Knowledge, will ground students in a rich, multidisciplinary study of ayahuasca’s history, present, and future through exploration of cutting-edge research and Indigenous perspectives. Over 12 weeks (through August 22), the course will address current challenges and new perspectives on the use of ayahuasca in a global context, with special focus on topics including Amazonian traditional healing modalities; deconstructing healing culture; ayahuasca and Western psychotherapy; ayahuasca’s commodification; therapeutic and clinical research; conservation; ayahuasca’s botanical mysteries; decolonizing psychedelic science; environmental legislation and the legal framework of ayahuasca worldwide.
Uniquely in the growing field of psychedelic education and scholarship, the course will be dedicated to the voices and experiences of Brazilian Indigenous leaders and will emphasize the perspectives and wisdom of Indigenous communities for whom using ayahuasca is a practice integral to their cultures and traditions. Indigenous professors will guide students into a deeper understanding of the West’s ambiguous relationships to ayahuasca (including healing and extractivism), as well as the role ayahuasca shamanism plays in certain Indigenous contexts in political resistance and cultural revitalization.
As with other Chacruna courses, material will bridge studies of the scientific and the sacred. Students will leave with a deep awareness of the complexities of this topic, and will be able to critique assumptions, as well as analyze and actively participate in discourse on ayahuasca.
“Chacruna’s course Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in ayahuasca to deepen their knowledge and discuss cutting edge science, policy and cultural issues with leading experts in the field,” shares Dr. Anya Ermakova, a course instructor and member of the Board of Directors of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants, and the Cactus Conservation Institute. “I hope after the course students will appreciate the complexities and intricacies of ayahuasca and have even more awe and respect for Indigenous knowledge.”
“this course is unique because it will be taught not only by leading experts in the field of ayahuasca research, but also by renowned Indigenous leaders, bridging the gap between academic and traditional knowledge, and connecting the ceremonial use of sacred plants and psychedelic science.”
Dr. Henrique Antunes
Dr. Ermakova’s class will be taught alongside Dr. Henrique Antunes who shares that, “this course is unique because it will be taught not only by leading experts in the field of ayahuasca research, but also by renowned Indigenous leaders, bridging the gap between academic and traditional knowledge, and connecting the ceremonial use of sacred plants and psychedelic science.”
Over 12 meetings, students will work with world-class faculty, including Dr. Ermakova, Dr. Simon Ruffel (Psychae Institute, University of Melbourne, and Heroic Hearts UK); Dr. Francisco Apurinã Ywmuniry (environmental educator and president of the Pupykary Institute, an entity made up only of indigenous professionals from the Apurinã people); Dr. Bia Labate (Chacruna Executive Director and MAPS Public Education and Culture Specialist); Adam Aronovich (doctoral candidate in Anthropology and Communications at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Catalonia), and Dr. Glauber Loures de Assis (sociologist and Associate Director of Chacruna Latinoamérica in Brazil).
Aronovich’s session is titled “Deconstructing Healing Culture: Medicalisation, Ontological Caricatures and the New Age.” He shares that students will come out of the session and the course more broadly “able to think critically about expressions and ideas such as ‘doing the work,’ ‘personal healing,’ ‘integration,’ and even ‘medicine,’ and recognise the different influences shaping plant medicine’s uses in new contexts.” Students will also learn to critique caricatures of “romanticized and sanitized Indigenous worldviews often presented as ‘authentic’ or ‘traditional’ through the marketing of retreat center or providers, the centrality of ‘trauma’ and ‘trauma-informed’ discourse within healing culture, and more.”
The enriched perspective and deep knowledge provided by the course is essential for anyone invested in the history and future of ayahuasca. Classes convene on Mondays from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. PT / 1-3 p.m. ET, and meet a total of 12 times over the course of the summer, ending August 22. See the full schedule and claim your seat ($700; additional $300 for CE credits) here.
Why Chacruna?
Chacruna offers a robust, accessible curriculum of multidisciplinary courses, the caliber of which are typically only available through research universities. Chacruna’s commitment to equity and accessibility means that these classes have consistently been affordable and available to anyone curious to learn more about the complex, rich world of psychedelic studies. With this course, Chacruna continues its legacy as a leader in psychedelic science.
Students enrolled in Chacruna courses can expect a graduate program-caliber of excellence, available to any enrollee in a format that will fit into busy schedules. They may also complete additional work – including a final paper that could be published on the Chacruna website – to receive a certificate of course completion.
Critical Perspectives on Knowledge Production in Psychedelic Science is designed for anyone interested in the psychedelic renaissance. Students who are health professionals are also eligible for CE credits. Participants meet weekly on Tuesdays from January 24 through May 9, from 10-12 p.m. PT/1-3 p.m. ET. The course fee is $1,100 US. Scholarships are available on a limited basis. See the full course description and apply here.
This 12-week course, Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge (May 22nd – August 21st, 2023), will teach students the science of psychedelic healing. Psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials have shown promise for treating a variety of behavioral health indications, and the topics covered in this course will describe some of the potential mechanisms of action for these psychedelic benefits. Faculty will include Dr. Simon Ruffell, Dr. Henrique Antunes, Dr. Adam Aronovich, and more!
This 8-week course, The Science of Psychedelic Healing (June 6th – August 1st, 2023), will teach students the science of psychedelic healing. Psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials have shown promise for treating a variety of behavioral health indications, and the topics covered in this course will describe some of the potential mechanisms of action for these psychedelic benefits. Faculty will include Dr. Jordan Sloshower, Dr. Anna (Anya) Ermakova, Dr. Kelan Thomas, and more!
This 16-week course, Roots of Psychedelic Therapy: Shamanism, Ritual and Traditional Uses of Sacred Plants (August 8th – November 21st, 2023), will be composed of a series of independent lectures taught by the Chacruna Institute’s team and affiliates. It will lay out the foundation of the use of sacred plants through historical, cultural, indigenous, ‘traditional’ and contemporary lenses. Faculty will include Dr. Nidia Olvera, Sean McAllister, J.D., Dr. Kevin Feeney, and more!
Queering Psychedelics: Intersectionality, Healing, Spirituality and Liberation – Live/Online will be a 9-week course held August 28th – November 6th, 2023. Keep an eye out for more details! Faculty will include Dr. Bia Labate, Dr. Alex Belser, Taylor Dahlia Bolinger, LMSW, and more!
About Chacruna Institute
The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization co-founded by Brazilian anthropologist Dr. Bia Labate and American psychologist Dr. Clancy Cavnar, based in Northern California and with strong ties to Brazil and Mexico. We promote reciprocity in the psychedelic community, and support the protection of sacred plants and cultural traditions. We advance psychedelic justice through curating critical conversations and uplifting the voices of women, queer people, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and the Global South in the field of psychedelic science.
Contact Information
Lorien Chavez
Chacruna Institute
[email protected]
415-390-6157
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