From khat to kava to ketamine, drugs are constitutive parts of cultures, identities, economies and livelihoods. This much-needed book is a clear introduction to the anthropology of drugs, providing a cutting-edge and accessible overview of the topic. The authors examine and assess the following key topics
• How drugs feature in anthropology and the work of anthropologists and the general role of drugs in society
• Comparison between biochemical and pharmacological approaches to drugs and bio-socio-cultural models of understanding drugs
• Evolutionary origins of psychotropic drug sensitivity and archaeological evidence for the spread of psychoactive substances in pre-history
• Drugs in spiritual and religions contexts, considering their role in altered states of consciousness, divination and healing
• Stimulant drugs and the ambivalence with which they are treated in society
• Addiction and dependency
• Drug economies, livelihoods and the production and distribution segments of drug commodity chains
• Drug policies and drug wars
• Drugs, race and gender
• The future of the study of drugs and anthropological professional engagements with solving drug problems.
With the inclusion of chapter summaries and many examples, further reading and case studies – including drug tourism, drug industries in the Philippines and Mexico, Afghanistan and the ‘Golden Triangle’ and the opioid crisis in North America – The Anthropology of Drugs is an ideal introduction for those coming to the topic for the first time, and also for those working in the professional and health sectors. It will be of interest to students of anthropology and to those in related disciplines including sociology, psychology, health studies and religion.
Author(s): Neil Carrier, Lisa L. Gezon
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 204
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1 Introducing The Anthropology of Drugs
Beyond Pharmacology
Defining Drugs
Drug Studies in Anthropology
‘Premodern Quasi-Ethnography’ and Early Anthropology
Alcohol Studies
‘Street Ethnography’ and Addiction
Drug Use in Global Contexts
Onwards to the Book
Works Cited
2 Anthropological Themes and Approaches in the Study of Drugs
Functionalism, Social Integration and Ambivalence
Cultures, Meanings and Values
Power and Intersecting Inequalities
Critical Medical/Health Anthropology
Focus On the Margins?
Crops, Commodities and Illicit Flows: The Social Life of Drugs
Materiality, Pharmacology and Agency
Methods and Ethics
Ethnography
Ethical Considerations
Postcolonial Perspectives
Notes
Works Cited
3 Drugs in Archaeological and Historical Perspective
Drugs and Human Transformation
Drugs in Deep Time
Drugs, Domestication and the Coming of Inequality
Ancient Literature
Early Modern and Modern History
Histories of Prohibition
History and Anthropology
Note
Works Cited
4 Food of the Gods?: Psychedelics, Spirits and Healing
Hallucinogens, Psychedelics and Entheogens
Definitions
Pharmacology
Ethnobotany and Anthropological Connections
A Note On Shamanism
Old and New World Hallucinogen Use: ‘A Statistical Question’
Psychedelics in Cultural Contexts
Iboga(aine)
Mushrooms
Mescaline
Tobacco
Ayahuasca
Synthetic Hallucinogens
Psychedelics and Social Movements
Counterculture and New Age Contexts
Anthropology Meets Counterculture: Carlos Castaneda
Globalisation and Change: New Religious Contexts
Native American Church
Santo Daime
Drug Tourism and Recreational Contexts
Drug Studies and Psychedelic Psychotherapy
Anthropology and Psychedelics
Note
Works Cited
5 Stimulating Sociality
Pharmacology and Toxicology
Everyday Highs: Stimulants in Context
Stimulating Culture
Stimulants From Ritual to Everyday Practice
Drugs as Identity
Stimulating Sociality: Community and Inequalities
Building Community
Inequalities and Disintegration
The Need for Speed
Stimulating Labour: Disciplined Bodies
Stimulants and War
Stimulants as Pleasure
Everyday Lows: Relieving Stress
Cultural and Social Contexts of Drinking
Drinking and Identity
Drinking and Conflict
Anthropology and Drug Harms
Notes
Works Cited
6 Perspectives On Addiction in Anthropology
Agency and Power: The Notion of Addiction
History of ‘Addiction’
Complicating Addiction
Neurobiological/Disease Models
Cultural Meaning and Social Interaction Model of Addiction
Structural/Political-Economic Model of Addiction
The Anthropology of Addiction
Ethnographies of Addiction
Political Economies of Addiction
Addiction and Treatment as Cultural Constructions
Case Studies
Khat
Tobacco
Opioids
Anthropology and Drug Potency
Note
Works Cited
7 Drug Economies, Livelihoods and Development
Drugs as Crops and Commodities
Dangerous Commodities?
Drugs and Livelihoods: Economic Development and Its Alternatives
Case Studies
Tobacco
Legal Status and Public Health
Tobacco Farming
Profitability and the Global Capitalist Economy
Risks and Opportunities for Livelihoods
Khat
Production
Trade and Trust
Risks and Opportunities
Opiates and Opioids
Eradication
Risks and Opportunities
Review of Production and Distribution Issues: Risks and Opportunities
Notes
Works Cited
8 The Drug War and Its Effects
Introducing the ‘War On Drugs’
Anthropological Approaches
Drug War as a System of Meanings
Drug War as Assemblage
Drug War Ethnography
From Global to Local
Drug Commodity Chains
Drug Production
Drug Trade
Drug Consumption
Who Pays the Price? Violence, Structural Violence and Marginality
Studying Up
A Failed War?
Countercurrents: Anti-War On Drugs
Conclusion: Summary and Future Directions
Notes
Works Cited
9 Postlude: Engagements and Future Directions
Why Study Drugs?
Engaged Anthropology
Current and Future Directions: Topics and Approaches
Works Cited
Index
