{"product_id":"a-cultures-catalyst-historical-encounters-with-peyote-and-the-native-american-church-in-canada-9780887558146","title":"A Culture's Catalyst: Historical Encounters with Peyote and the Native American Church in Canada","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInspired 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. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlthough 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. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Culture's Catalyst\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFannie Kahan\u003c\/b\u003e (1922-1978) was born in southern Saskatchewan. She was a journalist and the author of a number of books. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eErika Dyck\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor and Canada Research Chair in History of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Manitoba Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50330259456274,"sku":"9780887558146","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6339e76b-b60f-465d-aaad-d7a48cbc82fd.jpg?v=1727796824","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-cultures-catalyst-historical-encounters-with-peyote-and-the-native-american-church-in-canada-9780887558146","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}