Psychedelic Studies
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty and a Rising Field in the Environmental Humanities
Modern Languages and Literatures Chair Alberto Ribas-Casasayas presented at the first Brown Bag Humanities and SCU tUrn project on Climate Crisis Awareness and Action. The last two decades have seen a resurgence of research with psychedelic substances for medical purposes that has concurred with a proliferation of neo-shamanic or mystical practices, retreats and communities that have the consumption of psychoactive plants and preparations at the center of their rituals. This "psychedelic renaissance," largely popularized by Michael Pollan’s best-selling book How to Change Your Mind, is having a significant economic and cultural impact on traditional societies, cultural practices and vulnerable environments in Latin America that needs a critical engagement from the Humanities and Social Sciences, which Prof. Ribas detailed in his presentation entitled "Latin American Studies v. the Psychedelic Renaissance." The presentation was followed by a lively and engaged Q&A with students from various courses in Environmental, Religious, and Latin American Studies.
Alberto Ribas-Casasayas also co-led a 4 -session seminar with Ana Luengo (San Francisco State University) entitled "Promises and Perils of the Psychedelic Renaissance: A Critical Perspective from the Humanities" at the American Comparative Literature Association conference in Montréal in March 2024. The seminar featured an interdisciplinary array of eleven presentations in the fledgling field of Psychedelic Humanities. He also presented his paper "Notes towards a Psychoactive Theory." (On the picture, with some co-presenters (Ariel Pickett (Mc Gill U) – George Shea IV (Cal State Stanislaus), Mara Uriol-Gárate (UC Davis), Ana Luengo (SFSU), Lauren Mehfoud (U of Virginia), Lana Cook (MIT), and Oliver Davis (U. of Warwick).
Prof. Ribas is currently co-editing with Ana Luengo the volume Otras iluminaciones: Narración y cultura a la luz de los psicodélicos (Other Enlightenments: Psychedelic Perspectives on Narrative and Culture), which will gather studies from scholars in Latin America, Europe, and the United States, and is expected to appear in 2025.