The Impact of the Hippie Movement on Indigenous Communities in Mexico

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

This chapter explores how the hippie movement in Mexico led to further impoverishment of indigenous people, as wealthy white individuals sought spiritual enlightenment without contributing to the local economy, perpetuating colonial ideas and poverty.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype about how psychedelics might revolutionize the treatment of mental illness. But there are also lots of ethical concerns. And probably none are so troubling as the charges of exploitation and cultural appropriation. The fact is, the knowledge about many psychedelics — like magic mushrooms and ayahuasca — comes from the sacred ceremonies of Indigenous cultures. But over the past century, Western scientists and pharmaceutical companies have been going into these cultures, collecting plants and synthesizing their chemical compounds.

Even if science is all about building on the knowledge of earlier discoveries, what is the psychedelic industry's ethical responsibility? Can psychedelics be decolonized?

Original Air Date: October 21, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

The Tragic Story of Maria Sabina's Sacred Mushrooms — Empowering Indigenous voices in the psychedelic industry — Bioprospecting for psychedelics: How Pharma hunted for Indigenous plant medicines — Spirit Medicine: Yuria Celidwen's vision for an ethical psychedelics

Guests:

Michael Pollan, Dennis McKenna, Erika Dyck, Katherine MacLean, Sutton King, Rachel Fernandez, Lucas Richert, Yuria Celidwen

For more from this series, visit ttbook.org/luminous.