English 680V: Visual Rhetoric in a Technological Age (Purdue)

Hallucinations (outside of the context of the "insane") was introduced into American culture in the early 50s with the CIA doing research that could be applied to espionage.  The CIA did research on first cannabis, soon followed by LSD.  Lysergic acid was a new compound and was tested in various ways (including on prisoners and in mental asylums, on military personnel, and dosing various employees at the bureau without their knowledge).  The CIA contracted with scientists across the country and handed out large grants on the research of LSD.  Through these academic communities LSD began to soak into wider American culture.  Around this same time popular articles were starting to emerge on mushroom consumption and various indigenous religions (many the curanderos and various spiritual beliefs of South American tribes that utilized hallucinogens).     Right now what I want to explore is the intersection between expectation and drug induced hallucinations.  In cultures that utilize hallucinogens in religious ceremonies people often encounter similar myth based hallucinations.  How did the early hallucinations encountered by those exploring LSD differ from later encounters: did expectation and word of mouth change the way people saw on a drug.  The reason that I think this is a worth while avenue of exploration is that it’s difficult for us to find the gaps in seeing that occur on a cultural basis.  It is difficult to explicate how our seeing changes over time.  With drugs, we are aware that we are entering into another state of seeing, and thus tend to record the various ways of seeing that are encountered in said state.  How has this state shifted in our culture, and how do other cultures that construct consistent visions see in different ways?  I will likely take a few smaller examples and build from there.  Right now I want some kind of interactive paper… something done in flash maybe?  I think that the medium will in ways dictate the kinds of information I include…