Joseph 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.
Fields of Expertise: Ethnobotany, Ethnography, Biocultural Conservation, Decolonization, Indigenous Human Rights, Psychedelic Plant Medicines, Cosmopolitics
Publications: Mays, Joseph and McCleave, Christine. "From Extraction to Liberation: Re-envisioning Psychedelic Science through Indigenous Lenses." Future Humanities (Forthcoming).
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):
"Who benefits from the Psychedelic 'Renaissance'? Indigenous Reciprocity, Decolonization, and Plant Medicine Conservation." Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research, 2024.
"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.
Fields of Expertise: Ethnobotany, Ethnography, Biocultural Conservation, Decolonization, Indigenous Human Rights, Psychedelic Plant Medicines, Cosmopolitics
Publications: Mays, Joseph and McCleave, Christine. "From Extraction to Liberation: Re-envisioning Psychedelic Science through Indigenous Lenses." Future Humanities (Forthcoming).
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):
"Who benefits from the Psychedelic 'Renaissance'? Indigenous Reciprocity, Decolonization, and Plant Medicine Conservation." Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research, 2024.
"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.