ayahuasca & psychedelic science lecture - UBC's Green College, September 10th

Green College Special Lecture

http://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/whats_on/index/events1031/2014-09.php

 

Ayahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew

Kenneth W. Tupper, School of Population and Public Health , UBC; Beatriz C. Labate, Visiting Professor, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico; Green College Society Member ('06-'07)

 

Coach House, Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road – University of British Columbia

Wednesday, September 10^th, 2014 – 5:00-6:30 p.m.

 

Abstract:

This talk offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of scientific research in medicine and health, situating current scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into psychedelics. Applying ideas from the field of science and technology studies (STS), Tupper considers how ayahuasca's myriad ontological representations in the 21st century—plant teacher, traditional medicine, religious sacrament, material commodity, cognitive tool, illicit drug—influence our understandings of it as an object of inquiry. He explores epistemological issues related to ayahuasca studies, including how the indigenous and mestizo concept of "plant teacher" or the notion of psychedelics as "cognitive tools" may impact understandings of knowledge. Should scientists engaged in ayahuasca research be expected to have personal experiences with the brew, and will this help or hinder the objectivity of their pursuits? He concludes with reflections on the politics of psychedelic research and impediments to academic knowledge production in the field of psychedelic studies.

 

UBC Campus Map - Green College location: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/PROD/index_detail.php?show=y,n,n,n,n,y&bldg2Search=n&locat1=412