Tehseen Noorani is an interdisciplinary scholar trained in sociology, anthropology and science studies. His interests lie in the phenomenological, epistemic and sociopolitical character of extreme experiences, and how these are made sense of across different ‘consciousness cultures’. His current research traces the renewed scientific and therapeutic interest in psychedelic experiences in the global North, exploring implications for theories of psychopathology and approaches to mental health care. Weaving together scientific, medical, spiritual and aesthetic registers, this research is situated in the context of medicalization and the ongoing ‘war on drugs’.
Tehseen spearheaded qualitative research for the Johns Hopkins psychedelic research team from 2013-2015, and has written on psychedelic science and therapeutics, expertise-by-experience in mental healthcare and participatory research methodologies. His PhD (2007-2011) was an ethnographic study of the knowledge-making practices of the mental health self-help and mutual aid movement, with a particular focus on the Hearing Voices Network.