Abstract
This paper explores the complex evolution of the role anthropologists have played as cultural experts in the regulation of the entheogenic use of the peyote cactus throughout the 20th century. As experts of the “peyote cult”, anthropologists provided testimonies and cultural expertise in the regulatory debates in American legislative and judiciary arenas in order to counterbalance the demonization and prohibition of the medicinal and sacramental use of peyote by Native Americans through state and federal legislations. In the meantime, anthropologists have encouraged Peyotists to form a pan-tribal religious institution as a way to secure legal protection of their practice; in 1918, the Native American Church (NAC) was incorporated in Oklahoma, with its articles explicitly referring to the sacramental use of peyote. Operating as cultural experts, anthropologists have therefore assisted jurists in their understanding of the cultural and religious significance of peyote, and have at the same time counseled Native Americans in their interaction with the legal system and in the formatting of their claims in appropriate legal terms. This complex legal controversy therefore provides ample material for a general exploration of the use, evolution, and impact of cultural expertise in the American legal system, and of the various forms this expertise can take, thereby contributing to the contemporary efforts at surveying and theorizing cultural expertise. Through an historical and descriptive approach, the analysis notably demonstrates that the role of anthropologists as cultural experts has been marked by a practical and substantive evolution throughout the 20th century, and should therefore not be restrictively understood in relation to expert witnessing before courts. Rather, this paper underlines the transformative and multifaceted nature of cultural expertise, and highlights the problematic duality of the position that the two “generations” of anthropologists involved in this controversy have experienced, navigating between a supposedly impartial position as experts, and an arguably biased engagement as advocates for Native American religious rights.
Highlights
Since the earliest recognition of its use on Native American reservations in the late 1880s, peyote has laid at the heart of a series of legal battles over religious rights and indigenous self-determination in the United States (Stewart 1993; Maroukis 2012; Dawson 2018)
The dynamics of colonial expansion in North America have resulted in the progressive diffusion of these entheogenic practices outside their traditional territory, all the way from Western Central Mexico to the Canadian province of Alberta (Section 2.2). This geographical expansion of peyote use, which led to the structuration of a vast religious movement in the United States, quickly became an object of interests for late 19th century anthropologists, and most notably for James Mooney, who played a crucial role as cultural expert in the defense of peyotism during the early 20th century (Section 2.3)
At the turn of 1908, as Oklahoma was preparing to apply for statehood, local Indian Service agents who had been leading the charge on peyotism wanted to be ready for an anti-peyote state law, with the objective of setting a precedent to be replicated by other states where the religious movement was disseminating
Summary
Since the earliest recognition of its use on Native American reservations in the late 1880s, peyote has laid at the heart of a series of legal battles over religious rights and indigenous self-determination in the United States (Stewart 1993; Maroukis 2012; Dawson 2018). Far from limiting themselves to expert witnessing, anthropologists have proved strategic allies for Native Americans, counseling them in their interactions with the American legal system in order to protect their entheogenic practice from prohibition. This complex legal controversy, whose origins will be examined in Part 2, provides ample material for a general exploration of the use, forms, and impact of cultural expertise. Part 4 explores the reconfiguration of cultural expertise in the peyote controversy, as the proliferation of court cases after the Second World War led a new generation of anthropologists to provide strategic expert witnessing in defense of the peyote movement
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
