Whose Knowledge?: Cyberbotany and the Quest for Epistemic Justice in Psychedelic Research

media release: Please join the Borghesi-Mellon Psychedelic Pasts, Presents & Futures Workshop Group for a presentation with Dr. Joanna Kempner. The reemergence of psychedelic research in universities often comes with robust historical narratives blaming politicians for the rise and fall in scientific interest in these substances. While public policies made it difficult to study psychedelics in an institutionalized setting, prohibition only drove experimentation underground. This resulted in the emergence of, what Kempner coins, "cyberbotany." This digital ethnobotanical study leverages online communities' data to understand psychedelic use, circumventing traditional research barriers. While cyberbotany recognizes diverse knowledge systems' value, it's crucial to prioritize epistemic justice in psychedelic studies, valuing knowledge from non-traditional settings for a more equitable and comprehensive understanding of psychedelics. Joanna Kempner, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University, is an award-winning sociologist of science, medicine, technology, and inequality, and the author of Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Modern Medicine (Hachette, 2024) and Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health (Chicago, 2014). Kempner’s research has been published in top journals across multiple disciplines, including Science, PLoS Medicine, and Social Science & Medicine and featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, PBS Newshour, and the BBC. You can see her entire family talk about migraine in the documentary Out of My Head.