Joseph Mays PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Erika DyckJoseph Mays received his MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent researching responses to globalization by the Yanesha of central Peru. Graduating with biology and anthropology degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, he published a medicinal plant guide for the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve in Ecuador, and he also holds a certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies from Naropa University. After serving as director of the Chacruna Institute's Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative for five years, he became the Program Advisor in 2024, where he continues to partner with Indigenous community organizations throughout Latin America. His current research focuses on the History of Indigenous Movements for Human Rights in the Americas, looking at struggles for community autonomy in the Great Plains, Mexico, and Amazonia. He is interested in how Indigenous political strategies integrate ideas of gift, reciprocity, and relational ontologies reflected in ritual and ceremony, with particular emphasis on their intersection with the psychedelics movement in the Global North.
Research Area(s)
- Ethnobotany
- Cosmopolitics
- Psychedelic Plant Medicines
- Indigenous Human Rights
- Decolonization
- Biocultural Conservation
- Ethnography
Publications
Mays, Joseph, Peluso, D., & Labate, B. C. (2021). "Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas: A respectful path forward for the psychedelic movement." MAPS Bulletin, 31(3).
Conference Presentations (select):
"Decolonizing Philanthropy and Indigenous Reciprocity by Supporting the Autonomy of Local Communities." National Autonomous University of Mexico, Rethinking Alcohol and Drugs Conference. Alcohol and Drugs History Society, 2022.
"Indigenous Responses to Globalization in Central Peru." University of Maryland. Center for Research and Collaboration in the Indigenous Americas, 2020.