Articles will highlight the global dimensions and future possibilities of psychedelics
Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Studies is thrilled to announce Global History of Psychedelics, an online series focused on critically diverse topics from thought leaders in the psychedelic space. Beginning on October 4th, articles will be published weekly for the Chacruna Chronicles in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan.
The series will feature accessible, shortened versions of chapters from the forthcoming Expanding Mindscapes: A Global History of Psychedelics (MIT Press), edited by Erika Dyck and Chris Elcock. This edited collection explores psychedelics’ worldwide history and impact, with a particular emphasis on countries other than the United States and Canada. Chacruna’s series will offer an exclusive sneak peek of this exciting and essential work, which will be released on November 21st. The volume is available for preorder now.
Presenting over 20 leading voices in the psychedelic movement, the collection – and Chacruna’s series – will spark conversation on vital topics largely missing from psychedelic studies, providing a platform for scholars and critical thinkers addressing some of the most essential and most historically marginalized conversations and areas of research in the psychedelic space.
Dyck, Professor and Canada Research Chair in the History of Health & Social Justice at the University of Saskatchewan, Associate Director of Chacruna Canada, and a Chacruna board member, will provide an introductory article. “The history of psychedelics has been dominated by American stories and figures that are important but do not tell the whole story of how psychedelics emerged in the modern world,” she says. “Our authors discuss different regions and players in this past to bring a more diverse history to life.”
“The history of psychedelics has been dominated by American stories and figures that are important but do not tell the whole story of how psychedelics emerged in the modern world. Our authors discuss different regions and players in this past to bring a more diverse history to life.”
Erika Dyck
Topics of scheduled articles include living traditions of soma consumption in India; women, mental illness, and psychedelic therapy in postwar France; early experimental LSD cultures in clinical settings; ibogaine in the transnational imagination; geographic and culturally-specific histories and applications of LSD; psychedelics, political radicalism, and acid-anarchism; and electronics and psychedelics as technologies of consciousness. Chacruna will also open the series for additional submissions in December.
“The resurgence of interest in psychedelics in the 21st century has also revived a curiosity about their past.”
Erika Dyck
“The resurgence of interest in psychedelics in the 21st century has also revived a curiosity about their past,” shares Dyck. “In this Global History series, our contributors take us inside iboga ceremonies in Gabon, clinics in Buenos Aires, and missionary outposts in India to show us how psychedelics emerged from different traditions and settings to stimulate non-ordinary states of consciousness.” Dyck and the Chacruna team hope the series will inspire further conversation and contribution on these and other rich topics.
Global History of Psychedelics will be published in the Chacruna Chronicles through March 2024, with possible series extension based on submissions.
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
lorien@chacruna.net
415-390-6157
