Episode Description
This is the human center of The Many Faces of Coca.
By the time coca enters Western conversations, it’s already been abstracted—reduced to policy, drugs, or crime. But for millions of people, coca isn’t any of those things.
It’s daily life.
In this final episode of the series, we speak with political theorist and anthropologist Manuela Picq, who has lived and worked alongside communities in the Andes and Amazon. This conversation moves beyond theory and into lived reality—how coca functions as food, medicine, memory, and community.
We explore:
– Why coca is not cocaine—and why that distinction matters
– How prohibition reshapes entire communities
– The generational loss of cultural knowledge
– The role of women as keepers of coca traditions
– How global policy decisions impact real lives on the ground
– Why the war on coca may actually be a war on people
If Parts 1 and 2 explored the science and history of coca, this episode asks a deeper question:
What does it mean to live with this plant today?
This is Part 3 of The Many Faces of Coca
Featuring conversations with Wade Davis, Dennis McKenna, and Manuela Picq
Chapters:
00:00 Intro – Coca as Lived Reality (Not Policy)
04:05 Who Defines Coca? (Culture vs Western Narratives)
09:51 How Coca Became Criminalized
13:22 Coca in Daily Life (Food, Medicine, Community)
18:02 From Tradition to Cash Crop
22:19 Who Pays the Price? (Violence & Exploitation)
25:45 Prohibition, Capitalism & the Drug War
28:35 Women, Knowledge & Hidden Traditions
33:37 Is Coca Control Really About Power?
36:32 The UN, Policy & Global Disconnect
40:09 What the World Gets Wrong About Coca
41:15 Closing Thoughts (End of Interview)
43:07 Post-Conversation Reflection (Why This Series Matters)
45:31 Where to Go Next (Series, Patreon, Discord)
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