Speaker Bio
Joseph Mays received his MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent researching responses to globalization by the Yanesha of central Peru. Graduating with biology and anthropology degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, he published a medicinal plant guide for the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. Joseph also holds a certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies from Naropa University, and his conservation work explores how cultural-conditioning influences approaches to biocultural sustainability. His Indigenous rights advocacy stresses the importance of ground-up structures that emphasize local agency and challenge conventional philanthropic models in attempts to support Indigenous autonomy and biodiversity. Joseph is Program Director of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative (IRI), where he partners with Indigenous community organizations throughout the Americas to support Chacruna’s mission of increasing cultural reciprocity in the psychedelic space, raising unconditional funding and engaging with Indigenous and local stakeholders on their own terms.
ICPR 2024 Abstract
Who benefits from the Psychedelic 'Renaissance'? Indigenous Reciprocity, Decolonization, and Plant Medicine Conservation
This presentation asks how we can close the gap between the promises of psychedelics as defined by researchers, investors, and clinicians contrasted with the needs of community stakeholders, exploring what “reciprocity” means in response to the colonial structures of increasingly globalized plant medicine spaces. We will address issues surrounding disparate participation in the so-called “psychedelic renaissance” between communities in the Global North (GN) and Global South (GS), focusing on Indigenous peoples’ status in a psychedelic ecosystem consisting of diverse stakeholders with different ontological frameworks. The presentation will analyze political, economic, ecological and cultural relationships, challenging assumptions regarding the use of the term “reciprocity” and taking a biocultural approach in the pursuit of effective advocacy and education. Partnerships between investors in the GN and GS often function to re-create and reinforce exploitative dynamics; we will discuss the causes and implications of impoverished economic settings where cultural resources are commodified, considering the inherent limitations of capitalist market-based models for access and benefit-sharing agreements, whether non-profit, corporate or non-governmental organizations. As psychedelic science grapples with the relational world of diverse beings Indigenous plant medicine refers to, we engage in a modest and mindful exercise to re-think and explore the possibilities of decolonization in the psychedelic space with insight from Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas. We will propose a new grassroots model focused on community autonomy for confronting the disempowering dynamics of conventional philanthropy, moving away from cynicism and helplessness towards embodying reciprocity in all our work.