Psychedelic assemblages

The medicalization of psychedelic drugs in the United States over the past two decades has created new scientific and clinical practices, but this emphasis on therapeutic use is a specific cultural reification. Because limited anthropological research exists on this topic, the article introduces the concept of psychedelic assemblages to argue that the nature of psychedelics transforms within and across cultural contexts. The nature of these drugs is contingent on how each culture assigns meaning and function, and each form of reification produces unique sociocultural and material effects. The argument draws on interdisciplinary research, semi-structured interviews, and netnography.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The medicalization of psychedelic drugs has gained significant momentum over the past two decades in the United States, ushering in new forms of scientific, medical, and clinical practice and training. As an increasing number of research programs and academic institutions focus on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs, it is important to recognize that the emphasis on medical import is a specific cultural reification. Since limited anthropological research exists on the medicalization of psychedelics, it is necessary to reassert that the nature of psychedelics, like all drugs, transforms both within and across cultural contexts. In combining interdisciplinary research, semi-structured interviews, and netnography, this article introduces the concept of psychedelic assemblages to argue that the nature of psychedelics drugs is not only contingent upon the forms of signification and assigned functions relative to each culture’s reification of them, but that each of the ways psychedelics become reified produces unique sociocultural and material forms and effects.