Course: Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge

This course explores ayahuasca healing, science, and Indigenous knowledge through both academic and Indigenous perspectives. Topics include the globalization of ayahuasca, decolonizing psychedelic science, traditional Amazonian healing modalities, ayahuasca and Western psychotherapy, commodification, therapeutic and clinical research, conservation, environmental legislation, and the legal framework of ayahuasca worldwide. The course also centers the voices and experiences of Brazilian Indigenous leaders and addresses issues including extractivism, cultural appropriation, ancestral knowledge, and the role of ayahuasca shamanism in political, spiritual, and cultural resistance. It is designed to bridge academic and traditional knowledge in discussion of current debates around ayahuasca. The format is hybrid, with a pre-recorded 1-hour lecture and a 1.5-hour live Q&A and discussion session on Zoom. Students are expected to watch the recording and complete the readings before the live discussion.