Ayahuasca and Time Travel
Schedule
Tue Aug 13 2024 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm
Location
The Alembic | Berkeley, CA
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Temporal perspectives in healing with plant medicineWhen consuming psychedelics like the Amazonian brew ayahuasca, the sense of being oriented in a present that is distinct from the past and future may collapse or expand through vivid encounters with alternating temporalities. In recent decades, ayahuasca use has been globalized away from Indigenous contexts, and moved into networks saturated by psychological knowledge that emphasizes trauma healing. It is an open question why many psychedelic users now focus on the past, especially the traumatic past, as the royal road to healing and spiritual flourishing. Alternate approaches, including many found across Indigenous Amazonia, cultivate the capacity to see possible futures when consuming the brew. This class draws upon the speaker’s ethnographic research among ayahuasca drinkers in Amazonia, Asia, and Australia to explore the altered temporalities afforded by this wondrous brew.
Alex K. Gearin, Ph.D. , is a sociocultural anthropologist who has researched psychedelic networks across the globe. His latest book Global Ayahuasca: Wondrous Visions and Modern Worlds (Stanford University Press, 2024) explores the psychoactive plant brew ayahuasca in Peru, Australia, and China. He has published on sensory elements of Amazonian shamanism, psychedelic therapy as a form of life, and metaphor and literacies in psychedelic medicine. He is Assistant Professor in health humanities at The University of Hong Kong, currently researching psychedelic atmospheres in clinical and underground contexts.
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Where is it happening?
The Alembic, 2820 7th St,Berkeley, California, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
Tickets
USD 12.51 to USD 23.18
