Manvir Singh - Decoding Shamanism: Psychedelics, Power, and the Architecture of Ritual

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes anthropologist and author Dr. Manvir Singh to explore the enduring power of shamanism as a psychological and cultural technology.

Find full show notes and links here:
https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-311/?ref=278

Singh discusses insights from his fieldwork with the Mentawai people and Amazonian Yopo shamans, explaining how ritual, performance, and belief help people manage uncertainty and catalyze healing. Together with Paul, he examines the contested history of ancient psychedelic use, the risks of neo-shamanic narratives, and the deep psychological roots of sacred ceremony.

Dr. Manvir Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. He holds a BA from Brown University and a PhD in human evolutionary biology from Harvard. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Wired, The Guardian, and top academic journals. His first book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion, was published in 2025.

Highlights:

• Shamanism as a psychological technology
• Performance, otherness, and credibility in healing
• Yopo, bufotenine, and entheogenic archaeology
• Why ancient psychedelic use is hard to verify
• The tension between tradition and neo-shamanism
• What happens when ceremony loses its context

Episode Sponsors:

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

These show links may contain affiliate links. Third Wave receives a small percentage of the product price if you purchase through the above affiliate links.