Introduction: Crossroads of Psychedelic Studies

Since the 1960s, Harvard Divinity School has been a central hub for research on psychedelics and religion, yet building a rich scholarly community around this field is still in its early stages. The Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology, drawn from the 'Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred' conference, presents original interdisciplinary research at the crossroads of psychedelics, religion, medicine, race, Indigeneity, law, the underground, history, and anthropology. The volume frames psychedelics as intersections where unlikely groups meet and as intersectional forces that challenge existing conceptions of power, law, and spirituality. It invites readers to imagine multidisciplinary, collaborative, self-critical scholarship that is attuned to complexity and diversity.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Since the 1960s, Harvard Divinity School has been an influential hub of research on psychedelics and religion. Yet, in many ways, the work of building a rich scholarly community around this area of study is just beginning. The Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology is one step in that larger project. This volume is drawn from Harvard’s “Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred” conference, and the essays here feature original interdisciplinary research from scholars and practitioners working at the crossroads of psychedelics, religion, medicine, race, Indigeneity, law, and the underground, history, anthropology, and beyond. We see these intersections as sites for collaboration and innovation in two ways: psychedelics as intersections where unlikely peoples, entities, and institutions meet, and as intersectional forces where the study of psychedelics highlights, challenges, or qualifies pre-existing conceptions, be they imbalances of power, uses of law, or notions of religion and spirituality. In light of these intersections, the Anthology invites readers to imagine new futures for the field of psychedelic studies with a vision of scholarship that is multidisciplinary, collaborative, optimistic yet self-critical, involved both within and beyond the academy, attuned to complexity and diversity, and both sympathetic and intelligent.