cover image: A Culture's Catalyst : Historical Encounters with Peyote and the Native American Church in Canada

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A Culture's Catalyst : Historical Encounters with Peyote and the Native American Church in Canada

2016

In 1956, pioneering psychedelic researchers Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond were invited to join members of the Red Pheasant First Nation near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, to participate in a peyote ceremony hosted by the Native American Church of Canada. Inspired by their experience, they wrote a series of essays explaining and defending the consumption of peyote and the practice of peyotism. They enlisted the help of Hoffer's sister, journalist Fannie Kahan, and worked closely with her to document the religious ceremony and write a history of peyote, culminating in a defense of its use as a healing and spiritual agent. Although the text shows its mid-century origins, with dated language and at times uncritical analysis, it advocates for Indigenous legal, political and religious rights and offers important insights into how psychedelic researchers, who were themselves embattled in debates over the value of spirituality in medicine, interpreted the peyote ceremony. Ultimately, they championed peyotism as a spiritual practice that they believed held distinct cultural benefits. A Culture's Catalyst revives a historical debate. Revisiting it now encourages us to reconsider how peyote has been understood and how its appearance in the 1950s tested Native-newcomer relations and the Canadian government's attitudes toward Indigenous religious and cultural practices.--$cProvided by publisher.
canada indians of north america history histoire medicine peyotl religion native american indiens d'amérique médecine rites and ceremonies peyotism government relations relations avec l'état culte native american church of north america rites et cérémonies ethnic and tribal indiens d'amérique

Authors

Fannie Kahan, Erika Dyck, Abram Hoffer, Duncan Blewett, Humphry Osmond, Teodoro Weckowicz

Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 113 - 126) and index
Control Number Identifier
CaOOCEL
Description conventions
rda
Dewey Decimal Classification Number
299.7/91
Dewey Decimal Edition Number
23
Distributor
Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
General Note
Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
Geographic Area Code
n-cn---
ISBN
9780887558146 9780887555084
LCCN
E98.R3
LCCN Item number
K34 2016eb
Modifying agency
CaBNVSL
Original cataloging agency
CaOONL
Physical Description | Extent
1 electronic text (xxxvi, 130 pages)
Published in
Ottawa, Ontario
Publisher or Distributor Number
CaOOCEL
Rights
Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
System Control Number
(CaBNVSL)kck00237529 (OCoLC)939202443 (CaOOCEL)452691
System Details Note
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Transcribing agency
CaOONL

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