The sacred and traditional use of Rapé in Indigenous Amazonian Cultures
This presentation was delivered at Oxford University in December 2024, hosted by the Oxford Psychedelic Society. Here, I look at the history and cultural significance of rapé, a sacred Amazonian snuff used by Indigenous peoples in healing and ceremonial contexts. Made from powdered Nicotiana rustica tobacco blended with plant ashes and other ingredients that vary […]
Book Launch: Socioecological Transformations
This was the first of two online launch events for Socioecological Transformations (Routledge, 2025), presenting the book as a collective exploration of socioecological change across ontological, structural, and care-based dimensions. Structured as a 90-minute session, the event moved through a sequence of short “one-minute seeds” — brief interventions designed to open multiple entry points into […]
Indigenous spiritualities: Transforming the future through ancestral knowledge
Maria Fernanda Gebara ABSTRACT Some argue that the socioecological crisis is a spiritual crisis. In this chapter, I analyze the role of Indigenous spiritualities in anthropocentric attitudes by reframing the way we relate to nature. Indigenous spiritualities could be interpreted as the spiritual beliefs and practices that Indigenous peoples identify as being “traditional.” It is […]
Institutional jelling in socio-ecological systems: Towards a novel theoretical construct?
Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi, Bishawjit Mallick, Gertrud Buchenrieder, Tobias Haller, Jürgen Pretzsch, Maria Fernanda Gebara ABSTRACT Institutional dynamics trigger resource management decisions and practices around socio-ecological systems (SESs), with (sub-) optimal management outcomes. For instance, studies show that formal institutions are continually prioritized over informal ones in land use decisions – the latter also countervailing the […]
Ancestral Medicines, Biocultural Conservation and the Politics of Recognition
This presentation was delivered at the Spiritualities and Healing in Global and Transhistorical Perspectives Conference, organized by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions in June 2025. It explores the intersections of Indigenous medicine, spirituality, and governance by analyzing the outcomes of the First Ancestral Knowledge Sharing Meeting, […]
Would You Sell Your Ancestors? The ethical paradigms of Ayahuasca (Part II)
Artwork by Daiara Tukano Published on December 9, 2024 in The Petrie-Flom Center by Daiara Tukano and Maria Fernanda Gebara Last June, we had the honor of speaking at “Law and Policy of Psychedelic Medicine,” the 2024 Annual Conference hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. […]
Would You Sell Your Ancestors? The ethical paradigms of Ayahuasca (Part I)
Artwork by Daiara Tukano Published on December 9, 2024 in The Petrie-Flom Center by Daiara Tukano and Maria Fernanda Gebara Last June, we had the honor of speaking at “Law and Policy of Psychedelic Medicine,” the 2024 Annual Conference hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. […]
Transformative Identities: Body Painting in Indigenous Amazonian Cosmologies
This presentation was given at the Program for Evolution and Spirituality Conference on Spirituality and the Arts at Harvard Divinity School in April 2025. It examines body painting within Indigenous Amazonian cosmologies as a deeply cosmopolitical and epistemological practice. Drawing on the framework of Amazonian perspectivism and grounded in examples from the Yawanawá, Assurini, and […]
Indigenous Medicines and Ethics: Whose Epistemes, Which Benefits?
This presentation was part of the “Psychedelics in Context: Politics, Epistemics, and Ethics” conference, held in November 2024 at Harvard Divinity School. Here I analyze the ethical complexities surrounding the use of Indigenous medicines, focusing on power dynamics and epistemic hierarchies that shape their integration into Western frameworks. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of power and […]
Indigenous Rights, Ethics and Psychedelics
On October 2024, I had the honor of hosting the third event in the Indigenous Awareness Initiative Webinar Series, titled “Indigenous Rights, Ethics, and Psychedelics: Who Holds the Power, Who Reaps the Benefits?”. In this talk, I explored how Indigenous rights intersect with the ethical use of psychedelics, focusing on key issues such as power […]
