Methodology or Muse?

The author responds to comments on their ethnographic work, clarifying that they examined the centrality of 'set and setting' in the Psychedelic Renaissance by focusing on the language of containment. Drawing from material culture studies, they analyzed how containers are constructed, maintained, and how leaks or overflows are managed, along with the work done by boundaries and the relationship between containers and their contents. The goal was to explore how concerns over set, setting, and containment are reshaping psychedelic practices and discourses within and beyond clinical trials, affecting both therapeutics and social justice efforts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

I'm grateful to the authors for their comments, and for the opportunity to respond. To clarify my approach, I sought to discuss the centrality of 'set and setting' at descriptive and normative levels in the Psychedelic Renaissance by focusing on the language of containment prevalent during my ethnographic research. Inspired by the study of material culture, I took up certain questions that can be asked of any containerhow they are constructed and maintained, how leaks and overflows are dealt with, the work done by their boundaries, and relationship of these containers to their contents. There are undoubtedly more questions but these are the ones I found fruitful to think with. My goal was to explore how the concerns over set and setting, and containment, are themselves remaking psychedelic practices and discourses, both inside and outside of clinical trials and in relation to both therapeutics and calls for social justice.