Amélie Barbier is a PhD candidate at the EPHE in Paris. After a degree in documentary filmmaking, she directed the short film Dreams of a blind man. For her master’s degree in anthropology, she studied the relationships between dreams and perceptions of the environment in a Koryak village (Russian Far East). Her PhD thesis currently focuses on an anthropology of the “science of dreams” in a French sleep disorders laboratory, and also takes the form of a film.

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Talking with “v’apaq”: conceptions and uses of fly agaric in a Koryak village (Kamchatka, Russian Far East)

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Based on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Kamchatka, this presentation describes contemporary conceptions and practices surrounding the fly agaric mushroom in a Koryak village. It follows the stages of harvesting, preparation, consumption and interpretation of the visions induced by this hallucinogen, to show the unique role “v’apaq” plays in an intergenerational relationship through which knowledge, care and emotions circulate. I also draw from pre-soviet literature, which has mentioned the use of fly agaric by Koryak populations since the 18th century, to highlight changes in gendered roles regarding the Agaric.