Funding Follows Culture

Meditation gets research funding because it's been adopted by Western wellness culture. It fits the individualistic self-improvement narrative. It's something you can do alone, sitting still, without instruments or community. It aligns with productivity culture ("optimize your brain"). Shamanic practices threaten that narrative. They're communal, embodied, Indigenous, tied to specific cultural contexts. They don't slot neatly into hospital settings or corporate wellness programs. The didgeridoo requires skill, produces loud drones, connects to Aboriginal spirituality. These aren't neutral scientific decisions about which phenomena deserve study. They're cultural choices about which traditions get legitimized through Western scientific validation and which remain "exotic practices" unworthy of serious investigation.