Science Meets Tradition: A visit of Huni Kuin Indigenous People
What is the role of traditional ritual in the neurobiology of the effect of psychedelics? Czech scientists are looking for the answer to this question directly in the Amazon jungle. The aim of the research is to examine the effects of the hallucinogenic bevarage Ayahuasca during the traditional rituals of the Amazon indigenous people.
Public talks: Science Meets Tradition
28. 11. 2018 20:00 – 23:00
Faculty of Philosophy
nám. Jana Palacha 1/2, Praha
Jeremy Narby, Eduardo Schenberg, Tomáš Páleníček, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui
Akce bude simultánně tlumočena do češtiny.
29.11. 2018 18:00 – 21:00
TBA, Ostrava
Eduardo Schenberg, Tomáš Páleníček, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui & Aldenira Cunha
Veřejná přednáška: Věda potkává tradici (Public talks: Science Meets Tradition)
28. 11. 2018 20:00 – 23:00
Filozofická Fakulta
nám. Jana Palacha 1/2, Praha
Jeremy Narby, Eduardo Schenberg, Tomáš Páleníček, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui
Akce bude simultánně tlumočena do češtiny.
29.11. 2018 18:00 – 21:00
TBA, Ostrava
Eduardo Schenberg, Tomáš Páleníček, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui & Aldenira Cunha
Akce bude souběžně tlumočena do češtiny.
In the framework of an international collaboration, the leading researcher of psychedelic science in our country, neuroscientist Tomáš Páleníček, PhD. together with his team from the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Eduard Ekman Schenberg, PhD. from the Instituto Plantando Consciência of Brazil, is preparing a research project – an expedition to the Amazon. The aim of the scientific study will illustrate the role of the traditional context in rituals using the ayahuasca beverage in the Amazon. Researchers will look at the neurobiology of ayahuasca with a focus on brain activity, synchronization in the brain and its long-term effects on mood and inner mood, harmony with nature and interpersonal intercourse. This expedition was funded in 2017 by the Neuron Endowment Fund.
In late November, neurologist Eduardo Schenberg, engaged in psychedelic research and psychotherapy using psychedelics, will visit Prague together with a representative of traditional communities, Ninawa Inu Huni Kui, recently elected president of FPEHAC, an organization that brings together all Huni Kui residents living in extensive Acre area, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. Jeremy Narby was also invited to the project. A well-known anthropologist living in Switzerland, the author of the book The Cosmic Snake, who spent several years living with people in the Asanine tribe in the Peruvian Amazon where he described the original uses of rainforest resources will also join a public lecture and discussion block at the Science Meets Tradition event, which will take place in the Great Hall of the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University in Prague. The event is organized by the Psychedelic Research Foundation with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Neuron Foundation. The partners of the event are Czech Psychedelic Society, Beyond Psychedelics, Artikl Magazine, Legalization Association, and Goout.
The event serves to raise up awareness of current research and to support the forthcoming expedition.
Jeremy Narby
"Psychedelic Plant Teachers”
An anthropologist tries to reconcile science and Amazonian plant knowledge, drawing concepts from both sides. Plants like ayahuasca and tobacco can act both as “psychedelics” meaning mind-revealing, and as “teachers”, in that they allow knowledge to be gained. But working with plant teachers is tricky, and has its ups and downs. Because they are mind-revealing, the experience one can have after ingesting them depends on who one is. Ultimately, when working with plant teachers, going back and forth between systems of knowledge is a slow process, that can be rewarding, but that also have its perils.
Bio
Anthropologist and writer, Jeremy Narby grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury, receiving a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. Jeremy spent several years living with the Ashaninka people in the Peruvian Amazon, cataloguing indigenous uses of rainforest resources.
Experiences with ayahuasca during his research inspired his book “The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge”. In this book, Jeremy proposes that indigenous people have developed a deep understanding of medicinal plants and even DNA itself, through ritualized use of ayahuasca, a theory deemed heretical by mainstream science.
Jeremy has since written two other books: “Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge”, and “Intelligence in Nature” He was featured in the documentary DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Since 1989, Jeremy has been working as the Amazonian projects director for the Swiss NGO Nouvelle Planète.
Eduardo Schenberg
“Bringing the Research Laboratory to Ayahuasca”
The scientific study of Ayahuasca began almost 30 years ago, and has evolved over time into a multiplicity of studies (Pubmed currently records 250 results for “Ayahuasca”). This recent era was preceded by at least five decades of anthropological studies of the plants, songs, people and rituals surrounding the Amazonian beverage, which has dozens of names in indigenous languages, such as Nixi Pae, Uni, Heu, and also Hoasca and Daime in the Brazilian churches. Even before these anthropological studies, indigenous people in the Amazon studied ayahuasca for hundreds of years and developed its uses. In this centuries-long process, not only has knowledge about ayahuasca evolved, but so too have the modes of knowing it. In this talk, Brazilian neuroscientist Eduardo Schenberg, who has used the brew for almost 20 years on a personal basis and who has also studied its effects in a neuroscience laboratory, will cover the potentials, challenges and limitations of the scientific study of ayahuasca, as well as its effects on the human brain and mind. Special focus will be given to difficulties between objective versus subjective approaches and how many important elements of indigenous practices were simply left out of scientific enquiry based on a priori assumptions. Can ayahuasca fit the basic western psychopharmacological mode of knowing or is it necessary to adapt methods and approaches to better understand ayahuasca’s physiological effects, therapeutic potentials and influences on consciousness?
Bio
Neuroscientist specialised in the development of novel psychiatric therapies assisted by psychedelic substances. Has experience in basic and clinical studies. Has work experience in the public and non-profit sector as well as private businesses. Has large experience in project managing with multiple collaborators and partners. Is a member of the Brazilian society for Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC), one of the founding members of the International Society for Research on Psychedelics (ISRP) and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Psychedelic Studies. Founder of Instituto Plantando Consciência, a non-profit dedicated to scientific research, and Phaneros, a biotech startup focused on improving psychiatric health services.
Tomáš Páleníček
“Expedition Neuron: Why should we travel to Amazonas to understand the healing potential of Ayahuasca”
Science has always been driven by curiosity. My curiosity has been focused on psychedelic medicines since my early studies at high school and has led me to explore and study these compounds throughout most of my professional career. Since the very beginning, I have also had a deep conviction and desire to visit the Amazon. When I became a scientist, this dream became a reality and in connection with my interest in psychedelic medicines I wanted to explore the effects of the hallucinogenic brew Ayahuasca on human brains. However, I did not want to study it in a laboratory setting, other substances are usually explored these days, but by bringing the laboratory to the jungle.
The intention is to describe the unique healing potential of this brew in its traditional context and learn how this traditional ritual use might be beneficial for current society and medicine, especially focusing on stress, anxiety and depressive mood. Thanks to several of my colleagues here in Prague we have successfully applied for a project “Expedition Neuron” and through this project the dream is moving ever closer to reality. My journey led me to various places in the Latin American and Amazonian jungle, where I met many interesting people. Some of them were scientists, others were musicians or anthropologists, and I also met many knowledgeable ordinary people. Of course, one of the most important events was meeting indigenous people in the Amazon jungle and especially the Huni Kui community.
Bio
Tomas Palenicek, MD, PhD. began his career in 2001 at the former Prague Psychiatric Centre in preclinical research, focusing on the neurobiology of psychedelics such as LSD, psilocin, mescaline, 2C-B and MDMA and on the neurobiology of psychosis. At the same time, he trained in clinical psychiatry and in clinical electroencephalography (EEG) and started to contribute to human clinical research with ketamine. Within the last five years he has been the principle investigator of the first projects in the Czech Republic to study the acute effects of cannabis and psilocybin in healthy volunteers and he was involved in studies with ketamine in depressed patients. His research expertise is mainly in behavioural pharmacology and in electrophysiology and brain connectivity. Currently, he is a leader of a translational team of young scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health in the Czech Republic, investigating the neurobiology of how psychedelics and cannabinoids affect brain processing, emotionality, cognitive functions and music. He is also actively involved in projects focussed on studying the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and MDMA in the Czech Republic.
The Nixi-Pae Traditions in Huni Kui Tribe
Ninawa Inu Huni Kui is the recently elected president of FPEHAC (Federação do Povo Huni Kui do Acre), an organization connecting all Huni Kui people living in the huge area of the state of Acre, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. He and his wife will be ready to discuss their communities, origins and traditions as well as their relationship with western culture and society. Of course, they will also focus on the traditional use of Nixi Pae (Ayahuasca) by Huni Kui people both in the past and today.