Ethnomycology

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Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi, and can be considered a subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology. The term "ethnomycology" is often used in the context of the study of psychoactive mushrooms such as psilocybin-containing mushrooms or Amanita muscaria. The amateur researcher Richard Gordon Wasson rekindled interest in this field of study in the late 1920s, inspiring later (mostly non-academic) researchers such as Terence McKenna, Giorgio Samorini, and James Arthur.

While Wasson views historical mushroom use primarily as a facilitator for the "shamanic" or "spiritual" experiences core to these rites and traditions, McKenna takes this further in his book, Food of the Gods, positing that the ingestion of psilocybin was perhaps primary in the formation of language and culture and identifying psychedelic mushrooms as the original "Tree of Knowledge". There is indeed some research supporting the theory that psilocybin ingestion temporarily increases neurochemical activity in the language centers of the brain and, though this is hardly enough to substantiate McKenna's ambitious claim, it does indicate a need for more research into the uses of psychoactive plants and fungi in human history.<ref name="ref1">"Neurometabolic Effects of Psilocybin, 3,4-Methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDE) and d-Methamphetamine in Healthy Volunteers A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled PET Study with FDG", Neuropsychopharmacology, 1999.</ref> <ref name="ref2">"Neural Correlates of Hallucinogen-induced Altered States of Consciousness".</ref>

[edit] References

Oswaldo Fidalgo, The ethnomycology of the Sanama Indians, Mycological Society of America (1976), ASIN B00072T1TC
E. Barrie Kavasch, Alberto C. Meloni , American Indian EarthSense: Herbaria of Ethnobotany and Ethnomycology, Birdstone Press, the Institute for American Indian Studies (1996). ISBN 0-936322-05-5.
Aaron Michael Lampman, Tzeltal ethnomycology: Naming, classification and use of mushrooms in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, Dissertation, ProQuest Information and Learning (2004)
Terence McKenna, Food of the Gods : The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution, Bantam (1993 reprint), ISBN 0-553-37130-4.
Jagjit Singh (ed.), From Ethnomycology to Fungal Biotechnology : Exploiting Fungi from Natural Resources for Novel Products, Springer (1999), ISBN 0-306-46059-9.