Access to publications: Research Gate / Academia

I am conducting research at the intersection of Psychedelic Studies, Anthropology of Mental Health & Cultural Psychiatry. My research interests lie mainly within the contemporary reconfigurations of the status of so-called “hallucinogenic” (or “psychedelic”) substances and “hallucinatory” experiences. I explore the cultural, political and ethical implications of these dynamics within Euro-American societies. My work is based on ethnographic fieldworks conducted since 2008 in Latin America (Peruvian Amazon, Mexico) and Europe (United Kingdom, France).

I completed my PhD at the EHESS/Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (Paris) under the supervision of Pr. Philippe Descola in 2016. I have been then a postdoctoral research fellow at Durham University (UK) and the Quai Branly Museum (Paris). My doctoral research was based on an 18-months fieldwork in the Upper Peruvian Amazon, and has been the first extensive French-language ethnographic survey on a “shamanic center” in the Amazon. These institutions, which have recently multiplied in the region, offer an international clientele ritual practices inspired by indigenous shamanism, including the use of psychedelics such as ayahuasca. My work focused on understanding the dynamics through which cultural knowledge, symbolic frameworks, as well as interactional and discursive contexts shape the psychedelic experience. Studying the stakes of this “socialisation of hallucinations” dynamics in the recomposition of identity and the constitution of social groups dynamics, I explored its implications in cultural transmission and therapeutic efficacy.

Since then, the investigations that I carry out are twofold : 1) The globalization of the use of psychedelics through the rise of shamanic tourism in Latin America & clinical studies on these substances in Euro-American societies 2) The contemporary recharacterization of the social status of so-called “hallucinatory” experiences through the impulse of movements of psychiatric users such as the Hearing Voices Movement. Through my participation to ALIUS (an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to the study of the diversity of consciousness that I have co-founded) & the Hearing the Voice program (Durham University), I have placed this work in an interdisciplinary dialogue involving History, Religious Studies, Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience. I also provide scientific consulting for clinical and experimental studies involving the use of psychedelics. In these collaborations, I exercise a critical practice of interdisciplinarity leading me to question, from an anthropological perspective, the growing place of Neurocentrism in the approach of the human phenomenon.

Keywords:

• Ethnopsychiatry, Cultural Psychiatry & Anthropology of Mental Health
• Psychedelic Studies
• Consciousness Studies & Altered States of Consciousness
• Amazonian Ethnology
• Science and Technology Studies

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

• (2022). “The psychedelic ritual as a technique of the self. Identity reconfiguration and narrative reframing in the therapeutic efficacy of ayahuasca“, Hau, Journal of Ethnographic Theory .
• (2022) (with S. Veissières). “Culture, context and ethics in the therapeutic use of hallucinogens. Are psychedelics active super placebos”, Transcultural Psychiatry.
• (2022) (with Luhrmann, T ; Alderson-Day, B ; Chen, A ; Corlett, P ; Deeley, Q ; Lifshitz, M ; Moseley, P ; Peters, E ; Powell, A ; Power) (2022). “Learning to discern the voices of gods, spirits, tulpas and the dead”, Schizophrenia Bulletin, The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders (in press).
• (2021). “Psychedelics as tools for belief transmission. Set, setting, suggestibility and persuasion in the ritual use of hallucinogens“, Frontiers in Social Psychology, special issue “Psychedelic Sociality: Pharmacological and Extrapharmacological Perspectives”.
• (2021). “Du poison au remède ? Enjeux épistémologiques, politiques et éthiques de la médicalisation des hallucinogènes“, Cargo, Revue Internationale d’Anthropologie Culturelle, n°11.
• (2020)” The socialization of hallucinations. Cultural priors, social interactions and contextual factors in the use of psychedelics“, Transcultural Psychiatry.
• (2020) (with P. Leptourgos, M. Fortier, R. Carhart-Harris, P. Corlett,  A. Halberstadt, M.Kometer, E. Kozakova, F. LarØi, T. Noorani, K. Preller, F. Waters, Y. Zaytseva, R. Jardri). “Hallucinations Under Psychedelics and in the Schizophrenia Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary and Multiscale Comparison“, Schizophrenia Bulletin, The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders.
• (2020) “Voir pour croire. Substances hallucinogènes et dynamique de l’adhésion“. L’ethnographie, special issue “Corps, nouvelles religions et dérives sectaires”, N°3-4/2020.
• (2020) (with L. Berkovitch) “Hallucinogènes et culture. Une approche neuroanthropologique de l’expérience psychédélique“, Psychiatrie, Sciences Humaines, Neurosciences, vol 18, N°3/2020.
• (2020) (with C. Timmermann et R. Watts). “Towards psychedelic apprenticeship: Developing a gentle touch for the mediation and validation of psychedelic-induced insights and revelations“, Transcultural Psychiatry.
• (2019) “Apprendre à voir l’invisible. Pédagogie visionnaire et socialisation des hallucinations dans un centre chamanique d’Amazonie péruvienne“, Cahiers d’Anthropologie Sociale 17, p. 20-42. 
• (2018) “Prácticas en búsqueda de legitimidad: el uso contemporáneo de la ayahuasca, entre reivindicaciones terapéuticas y religiosas“, Salud Colectiva,  N°14 – 2.
• (2018) “L’ayahuasca et son ombre. L’apprentissage de la possession dans un centre chamanique d’Amazonie péruvienne“, Journal de la société des américanistes, 104-2, p. 33-63.
• (2017) “Pharmacopées indigènes et évolutions du curanderismo péruvien : le cas de Takiwasi (haute-Amazonie)“, Cahiers d’anthropologie sociale 14, «Guérir/Tuer», p. 171-185.
• (2017) (with Arnaud Halloy), “Les racines émotionelles de la possession religieuse. Une ethnographie comparative“, Intellectica, N°67 – 2017/1, p. 301-325. 
• (2017) “De la liane à la croix. Transformations institutionnelles, innovations rituelles et socialisation des hallucinations dans un centre chamanique d’Amazonie péruvienne“, Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 178, juillet-septembre 2017, p. 279-296.

Non-academic journal articles

• 2021. “Can really psychedelics change the world? Toward psychedelic technologies“, Mind Foundation Blog.
• 2021. (with C. Timmermann) “Navigating a Double-Edged Sword: Toward Psychedelic Apprenticeship“, Chacruna.
• 2020. “Can Navigating Hallucinations Help in Psychosis Treatment?“, Kahpi.

Book chapters

• (2022) “Learning to navigate hallucinations. Comparing voice control ability during Psychosis and in ritual use of ayahuasca”, Voices in Psychosis. Interdisciplinary perspectives (Alderson-Day, B; Fernyhough, C and Woods, A eds.), Oxford University Press, 2022.

Edited peer reviewed journal special issues

• (2022) “Cultural challenges and ethical issues in the therapeutic use of psychedelics”, Transcultural Psychiatry (with S. Veissières).
• (2022). “L’Apprentissage social du sensible”, L'ethnographie (with C. Nizard).
• (2019) “Images visionnaires”, Cahiers d’Anthropologie Sociale N°17, février 2019 (with M.Canna).

Organized

Symposium & conferences

• (2020)  “L’apprentissage social du sensible“, Université Paris-Descartes, Paris, 24 June 2020 (with C.Nizard).
• (2019) “Voix et visions. Regards croisés sur les hallucinations”, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 24-26 October 2019 (with M.Frèrejouan).
• (2018) “Methodological issues in consciousness research. Interdisciplinary perspectives”, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 26-27 October 2018) (with M.Koroma & R.Millière).
• (2017)  “Exploring the diversity of consciousness”. Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 8-9th December 2017 (with M.Fortier, M.Canna & M.Koroma).
• (2017) “Images visionnaires. Anthropologie de l’art visuel des hallucinations”, Collège de France, Paris, 3 October 2017 (with M.Canna).
• (2016)  “Les enjeux des états modifiés de la conscience et de la cognition: limites passées et nouveaux paradigmes”, Ecole Normale supérieure, Paris, 13 September 2016 (with M.Fortier & G.Dumas).

Seminars & workshops

• (2019) “Images visionnaires” (9 May 2019). Quai Branly Museum (Paris).
• (2017-2018) “Cosmopolitiques des attachements”, (Séminaire EHESS, 2017-2018) with F. Brunois, B.Glowczewsky, N. Lainé, N.Martin & C.Stépanoff.
• (2011-2012) “Visions de l’ayahuasca : approche pluridisciplinaire des usages contemporains de l’ayahuasca” (Atelier Doctoral, EHESS, 2011-2012).