The Social Life of Psychedelics | Psychedelics, Sociopolitics, and Cultural Transformation
Date and Time
Location
Psychedelics in Society & Culture | Initiative-Supported Event
About the Event
Neuroscientist Leor Roseman & Cultural Historian Mike Jay will discuss the various roles that psychedelics play in cultural history and the sociopolitical dynamics that make drugs matter.
This event is part of the Social Life of Psychedelics talk series.
What do psychedelics reveal about the people and culture who work with them?
Psychedelics shape society, politics, religions, law, music, or medicine. They gain their power not just from their psychopharmacology, but from the many ways that people use them: to influence others, form relationships and identities, negotiate hierarchies, imagine futures, and create transformative social worlds. This talk series will use psychedelics as a probe to consider the assumptions, desires, and imaginations of cultural ecosystems.
Social Life of Psychedelics talks will take place every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the spring 2026 semester in the Thompson Room (Barker Center 110). Contact Amadeus Harte with any questions.
About the Speakers
Mike Jay is an author and cultural historian who has written widely on the cultural history of science, medicine and the mind. His books include Free Radicals, Influencing Machine, and Psychonauts. He writes regularly for the London Review of Books, the Literary Review, and New York Review of Books.
Leor Roseman is a Senior Lecturer and Psychedelic Researcher at the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. He is fascinated by the ways psychedelics modify consciousness from a biopsychosocial perspective. His interdisciplinary research covers neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology, anthropology, and conflict resolution, using a wide array of research methods such as fMRI, quantitative, qualitative, microphenomenology, ethnographic, and participatory research.
