The Social Life of Psychedelics | The Social Cure: Psychedelics, Group Dynamics & the Anthropology of Intense Experiences
Date and Time
Location
Psychedelics in Society & Culture | Initiative-Supported Event
Speaker: Dr. Martha Newson, Cognitive Anthropologist
About the Event
How do group dynamics in different contexts mediate psychedelic experiences? How do intense experiences work to create social bonds? Professor Martha Newson will explore how group dynamics and rituals shape social identities and mediate healing.
About the Speaker
Martha Newson is an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich. She uses an evolutionary angle to understand human culture and behaviour. She focuses on the themes of belonging, ritual and transformative experiences, themes central to both her academic research and her consultancy practice, with clients including the Premier League, Hyundai, and Guinness. To better understand group bonding, conflict, and intergroup violence, she has worked with unusual and extreme groups across the world, from Brazilian football hooligans to fundamentalist Muslims in Indonesia and partygoers in Britain’s underground rave scene. Her research on social contact and wellbeing during the pandemic spanned 122 countries and reached over 10,000 people. She is the leader of The Changing Lives Lab within the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion.
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.
