More Than Peyote: Trauma, Healing, and the Politics of Indigenous Cultural Survival in the Age of Psychedelic Colonialism

Abstract

This dissertation examines the intersection of peyote religion, historical trauma, and the emergent psychedelic movement through a critical Indigenous lens. Centering peyote as both a sacred medicine and a symbolic flashpoint, the study highlights how contemporary psychedelic policy, practice, and commercialization perpetuate settler-colonial paradigms and threaten Indigenous cultural survival. While mainstream narratives frame psychedelics as tools for healing, this research emphasizes how such framing often obscures deeper histories of dispossession, cultural appropriation, and epistemic violence. Using a mixed-methods approach—including 50 anonymous survey responses, 13 qualitative interviews, and a 6-person focus group—this study amplifies the voices of tribal citizens across the U.S. The findings reveal that healing, for many, is not rooted in the psychedelic substance itself but in the reclamation of land-based traditions, kinship systems, and Indigenous ways of being, and that the psychedelic movement is perpetuating historical trauma. Participants expressed significant concerns regarding peyote access, ecological degradation, legal frameworks like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), and the commodification of sacred medicines through psychedelic capitalism. This research explores how peyote healing is inherently political, embedded in struggles over land, law, and cultural recognition. It calls for legal reforms, Indigenous-led conservation efforts, and international protections for sacred knowledge. Ultimately, the data challenges dominant psychedelic discourses by re-centering Indigenous perspectives and asserting that true healing cannot occur without justice, cultural revitalization, and the dismantling of colonial structures that continue to define the psychedelic landscape.