Paloma Martinez-Cruz, professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Department of English, gives a lecture titled "Whose Magic Mushroom? Writing Mazatec Culture out of Mushroom Medicine."
From the stresses of parenthood to the relief of symptoms related to treatment-resistant depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and other mental health disorders, uses for “magic mushrooms” are on the rise around the globe. But psilocybin, the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by hundreds of species of fungi, arrives to big pharma only because a U.S. researcher tricked a Mazatec Mexican shaman into offering him her culture’s sacred medicine. What is to be made of this explosion of Indigenous Mexican medicine? How does the violation of Indigenous rights figure into our understanding of its circulation and consumption? Informed by decolonial, feminist Latinx research, Martinez-Cruz interrogates the mushroom marketplace that has long ignored ethical questions around sacred Indigenous property.
Inaugural lectures celebrate Arts and Humanities faculty who have been promoted to the rank of professor. All lectures are held in the Faculty Club Grand Lounge from 4-6 p.m. and are preceded by a reception and followed by Q&A and discussion. All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Arts and Humanities Inaugural Lecture Series is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.