THE PSYCHEDELIC CENTURY

Christian Whittall
okiejoe2000@hotmail.com

There seems to be an enormous void in the current political and academic literature, the dimensions of which can be gleaned when we trace the intersection beteween it and phenomenon of drugs and drug consciousness. Academic reticence on this subject is near-total. Although it's almost impossible to imagine nowadays that committed political activism and drug consciousness could ever occupy common discursive ground, most of us still retain the shadow of a notion that at one time, mere decades ago, they were deeply related. Since their uneasy tag-team in the sixties, it appears that the two have burned all memories of one another. This regrettably comes at a time in which recent "advances" in drug technology and a sophisticated international distributive apparatus have combined to open up the vista of a chemically administered conjunction of body, mind and capital. So, why this taboo? And why now?

This course will examine this problem closely and seek to locate and possibly create inroads between these two possibilities of consciousness. After a brief survey of the place drug substances in general have in society, the bulk of it will be dedicated to exploring, without a specific destination, the twentieth century psychedelic phenomenon through any of its multifarious and sometimes conflicting manifestations in the dimensions of science and social science, popular culture, politics, criminology, philosophy, literature, and art. This will be done with an eye to framing it all within recent history as a unified subject of study. Once this work is done we will then zero in on the radical but hidden effects it has had on both the appearance and function of the world we, ourselves inhabit. The remainder of the course will be focused on speculating as to if and how contemporary political activism can in fact be married constructively to the psychedelic phenomenon.

Throughout, we will keep the following issues in focus: How is the relationship between substance and consciousness reflected in our society? What is "psychedelic"? Is it a meaningful concept? Can it still have currency in today's world? To what extent has the experience of modernity itself become psychedelic? What role does consciousness and change in consciousness play in political action?

A (most likely unnecessary and even condescending) WARNING: It is assumed that many of the students are likely to have accumulated many thoughts and experiences in regards to the matter at hand before they step into class. Part of the reason this topic is so hard to approach is its extreme subjective nature. A good chunk of the class will be devoted to establishing a common ground using the coordinates provided by the texts. In order to expedite this process, students are asked to avoid indulging excessively in personal reminiscences.

Weeks 1 & 2

Society and Substance.

The first two or three weeks will be focused on situating the class within a framework of established ideas about substance and consciousness and investigating how those ideas have manifested politically, culturally and economically. Readings from photocopied booklet containing excerpts from (among many others):

• Descartes, Rene. Meditations.
• Merleau-Ponty. The Phenomenology of Perception.
• Canadian Criminal Code
• Erickson, Patricia G., Blackwell, Judith C. Illicit Drugs in Canada: A Risky Business
• Articles from Z magazine: Selling Drugs: Capitalist Healthcare

Weeks 3 - 7

Exploration.

The bulk of the semester will be taken with the rhizomatic exploration of the alternative approaches to psychedelia this past century has made available to us. We will draw heavily from the existing reservoir of ideas and methods in order to orient our discussion. Readings will be accorded to one or more of the following themes, determined by class consensus. A tentative series of readings are offered for each genus of thought and/or practice:

LITERATURE

There's many directions to go here, but we should at least cover these bases:

Psychedelic precursors:

• Baudelaire, Charles. Artificial Paradise
• Breton, Andre. What is Surrealism?
• De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium Eater.

Aldous Huxley, the Godfather:

• Brave New World; Brave New World Revisited; The Doors of Perception; Heaven and Hell; Island; Moksha; The Perennial Philosophy.

The mid-century American psychedelic canon:

• Burroughs, William S. Job; Naked Lunch; Nova Express; Yage Letters.
• Dick, Philip K. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch; A Scanner Darkly; The Man in the High Castle
• Farina, Dennis. Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me
• Ginsberg, Allen.
• Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest; Ken Kesey's Garage Sale.
• Southern, Terry. Red Dirt Marijuana.
• Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; The Great Shark Hunt; Hell's Angels.
• Wolfe, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

The oft-neglected European writers of the same period:

• Henri Michaux. Miserable Miracle.
• Antonin Artaud. The Peyote Dance.

Etc, Etc., Etc.

ART

The 60s scene alone revolutionised at least three different artforms, all of which which merit investigation. They are the genres of poster art, album cover art and comic books. These can all be understood to be the logical outcome of the preceding years of pop art ideology.

• Rosenkrantz, Patrick. Rebel Visions.
• Barnicoat, John. Posters: A Concise History.

SCIENCE/ANTHROPOLOGY

• Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy
• Hoffman, Alfred. LSD -- My Problem Child
• McKenna, Terence. The Invisible Landscape, Food of the Gods, Archaic Revival.
• Strassman, Eric. DMT -- The Spirit Molecule
• Allegro, John M. The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

RECENT HISTORY/POLITICS/LAW What were the forces that criminalised Psychedelic drugs at the very height of their influence on the scientifc community? How hea LSD synthesised with the capitalist imperialist minset (i.e., CIA experiments, goverment drug peddling)? What were the forces that shaped our nation's incoherent drug policy?

• Various. Illicit Drugs In Canada: A Risky Business.
• Lee, Martin A., and Bruce Shlain. Acid Dreams
• Stevens, Jay. Storming Heaven.

POPULAR CULTURE

• Frank, Thomas. The Conquest of Cool.

Weeks 8 - 10

Consciousness and Change.

In the final weeks we will work on solidifying the ground we've covered and attempt to bring it into a political focus. Progressive texts looking at the relationship between consciousness and political action will be used to interrogate the ideas we have looked at thus far as to their efficacy at creating coherent platforms for activism.

Excerpts from:

• Marx
• Nietzsche
• Benjamin
• Heidegger
• Bataille
• Deleuze
• Baudrillard
• Lyotard

Please email me at the address at the top of this page if you are interested in attending. There are no deadlines and drop ins are encouraged.