Anthropology

A detailed Summary of Anthropology

The use of hallucinogenic plants dates back thousands of years. Over the years, many different cultures and civilizations have used them for different purposes. The common belief that similarities exist between cultures that rely upon the use of herbal hallucinogens is greatly exaggerated. The cultural variables between these cultures are often so significant that the only major similarity between them is the fact that they use hallucinogens. The common generalization by society that every culture that uses hallucinogens must be similar can be proven false by comparing the Australian Aborigines and the Navaho Peyote Cult.

Before the two cultures and their use of hallucinogenic plants can be examined and compared, a brief explanation of hallucinogenic plants must be given. As with most things, the use of hallucinogenic plants is effected by cultural variables. These variables strongly reflect the different needs for, and usage of, these plants among societies. One of the most complete lists of these variables is presented in Marlene Dobkin de Rios' Hallucinogens, cross-cultural perspectives. Rios states, "As various writers have pointed out, the hallucinogenic experience comprises an interacting set of variables such as

Furthermore, there are strong emotional effects that accompany experience. Often mild to acute anxiety, followed by depression are effects of the drug. It is also said by some participants of peyote ceremonies that all night ceremonies are followed by a state of euphoria in the early morning. Some say this may stem from a sense of shared experience and completion of a difficult ceremony while others claim it is an effect of the drug. Through this comparison of the two plants and their effects, the distinct differences of their physical properties become clear. However, the comparison of the way that the two plants are used in the two societies and their respective rituals, will clearly display specific differences between the two societies themselves.

Pituri, though not used as much today as it was before the early 1950's, is used most often in social situations. As Rios stated, it is used in exchange between friends and is often taken in a social setting. It was also very prominent in trade at one time. In fact, the only form of written communication know to the aborigines was linked to the trading of pituri. It was also used at one time for survival by mixing small amounts of it in watering holes to act as a tranquilizer for large animals who came to drink there; thus making the animals easier to capture. Although, no particular ritual activities are directly connected to the use of pituri, the substance was said to be added to certain "magic potions." The closest the plant use came to ritualistic use was its use in circumcisions. Circumcisions are a large part of aboriginal ritual. Although pituri does not eliminate the pain, it does effect the memory often enabling the patient to forget surgical trauma. Besides this one example, there is no other evidence of the plant being used in any other rituals.

3) Used in small water holes to trap large birds like emu or parrot, or kangaroos

A general understanding of the ethical and moral systems of the cultures that use hallucinogenic plants is also important. In most of the societies that use herbal hallucinogens there is an idea that the plant itself possesses a type of "power". This "power" is often referred to as "mana." As Rios explains, "The manna itself, although neutral, can be directed by the drug user (either shaman or layman) to specific moral and ethical ends. At times, it is difficult to use a simplistic notion of good and evil as encapsulated in the Judeo-Christian tradition" (14). When discussing the morality of the plant use, the categorization that Rios uses of good and evil really does not apply to non-western societies. The use of hallucinogenic plants does not pose moral dilemmas for most non-western societies, unlike in western societies. The moral dilemmas in non-western societies are based upon the proper use of the hallucinogens. The mana, or "power", produced by the plants can be used for many things such as healing, foreseeing the future, bewitching someone, and attracting a lover. The moral question posed for these non-western cultures is based upon deciding which (if any) of these uses is ethical. It is important to have an understanding of the ethical ideas surrounding the hallucinogenic plants. Furthermore, it is also important it is also important to have a brief understanding of how the plants work in order to be able to successfully compare the two cultures' use of their plants.

Not only do the two cultures differ in a cultural respect, but they also differ drastically in their usage of herbal hallucinogens. This being the aspect that is supposed to group them together. Beginning with the physical properties of the hallucinogenic plants that they use, pituri is a small flowering plant where as peyote is a cactus. Although they both cause hallucinations to some degree, pituri provides mainly physical sensations while peyote provides strong emotional effects as well. The two cultures uses of their plants differ

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Approximate Word count = 3299
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)

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