Psychedelics have returned into mainstream science, seem at the brink of being approved as medicines, and are rapidly regaining popularity not just in American culture. This course examines the psychedelic renaissance historically and ethnographically: How does it differ from the first wave of enthusiasm in the 1950s and 1960s? And how do American uses of these wondrous drugs differ from those in other cultures? While the course will explore these broad cultural contexts, it will put special emphasis on the medical and biosciences that have served as vehicles to relegitimate psychedelics. Thus, the course will also introduce students to basic concepts in Science & Technology Studies, but it will also ask what the role of social research and the humanities might be in the revival of psychedelic research.