Timothy Leary’s Trips from Harvard to México. A Multidisciplinary Conference, Inspired by Juan Villoro's "Hotel Nirvana"

Timothy Leary’s Trips from Harvard to México

March 27-28, 2026, Harvard University

A multidisciplinary event, inspired by Hotel Nirvana, a play about Timothy Leary’s encounter with Mexico and mushrooms, brings together theater, research on drugs, law, and war with a documentary film and a visit to the Houghton collection of psychedelic art. An interview with novelist and playwright Juan Villoro will explore connections between art and complex issues of security and public health to reflect on today’s innovation and appropriation of ancestral knowledge. Hosted by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the Cultural Agents Initiative, with support from the Mahindra Center for Humanities program, Psychedelics in Society and Culture, and from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

PROGRAM 

Friday, March 27, 2026 (Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall)

9:00 – 10:30 | Psychedelics for Health: Franklin King, Roxanne Sholevar, and Juliana Zambrano
11:10 – 12:40 | Ethics and Sacred Psychedelics: Pedro Favarón, Rick Doblin, and Héctor de Jesús-Cortés
1:00 – 2:00 | Lunch for Speakers and “Rao: The Challenges of Shipibo-Konibo Ancestral Medicine” (Boylston Hall, 403)
2:15 – 3:15 | Guided Visit to the Ludlow-Santo Domingo Collection of Psychedelic Art (Houghton Library)
3:30 – 4:30 | Staged Reading of Hotel Nirvana, directed by Leyma López
4:45 – 6:00 | Interview with Juan Villoro, author of Hotel Nirvana

Saturday, March 28, 2026 / DRCLAS Resource Room (CGIS)

10:00 – 11.30 | Drug War Narratives and the Violence of National Security Paradigm: Oswaldo Zavala, Rachel Nolan, Boris Muñoz, and Andrew Ryan
11:30 – 12:00 | Coffee