Author Archives: AAA Web Admin

AAA 2013: Request for Roundtable Discussion Questions

The Alcohol, Drugs, & Tobacco Study Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology has organized a roundtable for the upcoming AAA meetings in Chicago.  The roundtable, “Looking Back, Moving Forward: Reflections on Public Engagement in the Anthropology of Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco,” will take place on Wednesday, November 20, 2013, at 8:00 pm – 9:45pm at the Chicago Hilton.

The roundtable will focus on the centrality of public engagement in the development of the anthropology of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco (ADT).  Anthropologists of ADT have consistently contributed to projects, collaborations, and conversations marked by this type of commitment. Public engagement, however, has taken many shapes and held various meanings for anthropologists of ADT.  Panelists will discuss their previous projects, current engagements, and future research agendas in order to reflect on the various roles and manifestations of public engagement in the past, present, and future of the anthropology of ADT.  While addressing the specific themes of ADT, this roundtable also speaks to scholars working in the broader field of medical anthropology.  In recent years, the field has seen a marked increase in socially relevant and politically engaged scholarship. Now more than ever, medical anthropologists are consciously addressing real life problems and issues through their writing, speaking, and social activism and advocacy.  Many, particularly junior scholars, search for ways to reach beyond the academy to engage the public and exact social, political, and intellectual change.  This roundtable serves as a forum from which to discuss the ways in which we can shape our relationship with the public and our place within the public in the future.

The panel is organized by Shana Harris (National Development and Research Institutes) and Tazin Karim (Michigan State University), and is chaired by Roland Moore (Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation). The roundtable participants are William Garriott (Drake University), Helena Hansen (New York University), Daniel Lende (University of South Florida), Mark Nichter (University of Arizona), and J. Bryan Page (University of Miami).

To help catalyze the discussion, we welcome any questions you have regarding alcohol, drugs, or tobacco research (past or future) that you would like this distinguished group of presenters to tackle.  Feel free to submit any questions prior to the conference to Roland Moore at roland@prev.org .

Thank you!

Shana Harris, Taz Karim, and Roland Moore

Contemporary Drug Problems Conference – Aarhus University, August 21-23

“COMPLEXITY: RESEARCHING ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS IN A MULTIPLE WORLD” Aarhus University, August 21-23

Main theme

The last decade has seen the idea of complexity gain force in social science and epidemiological research. As social problems of all kinds prove less amenable to change than is sometimes suggested by the reductionist demands of orthodox positivist approaches, theory and method have turned to ways of articulating the elusive, uncertain and complex.

Continue reading

2013 ADTSG Graduate Student Paper Prize

The Alcohol, Drug, and Tobacco Study Group (ADTSG) of the Society for Medical Anthropology requests submissions for the best graduate student paper in the anthropology of alcohol, drugs, pharmaceuticals, tobacco or similar substances. Qualifying submissions will be judged by a committee of ADTSG members.  The author of the winning paper will receive a cash award of $100 and her or his name will be announced in Anthropology News and at the Society for Medical Anthropology awards ceremony at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting in November. Submissions from all anthropological sub-disciplines are encouraged. Continue reading

New Volume: Addiction Trajectories (Eds. Eugene Raikhel & William Garriott)

We’re very pleased to announce the publication of this new edited volume on the anthropology of addiction.

 Addiction Trajectories
Eugene Raikhel & William Garriott, eds.
Duke University Press, 2013
Paperback: $25.95 ISBN: 978-0-8223-5364-5
Series: Experimental Futures
http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=47016

Download and read a free copy of the Introduction here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/131686909/Addiction-Trajectories-edited-by-Eugene-Raikhel-and-William-Garriott Continue reading

Health Comm Fellowship with the Center for Tobacco Products and the FDA

Four fellowship opportunities are available within the Office of Health Communication and Education (OHCE) in the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CTP aims to protect Americans from tobacco-related death and disease by regulating the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products and by educating the public, especially young people, about tobacco products and the dangers their use poses to themselves and others. CTP oversees the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

For more information, visit: http://www.orau.org/science-education/internships-scholarships-fellowships/description.aspx?JobId=13984

ADTSG at AAA 2012 in San Francisco!

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Juliet Lee presenting at AAA 2013

Papers in these panels demonstrated cohesiveness, exploring notions of stigma, social construction, and cultural and political economic contexts of drugs, drug use, and addiction. Meeting panelist Juliet Lee and discussant Geoffrey Hunt’s recommended standard for research on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, the papers on these panels showcased one of the greatest strengths of anthropologists in this field: the successful integration of research on licit and illicit drugs, providing a venue for the exploration of how and by whom the boundaries and definitions of drug use and addiction are constructed, how they change, and how they are navigated by users, the medical and psychiatric communities, and even researchers. En route to addressing these common themes, each paper took a unique approach. Continue reading

Danger/Security in Drug Research

When I tell people what I do for a living – that I am an interdisciplinary researcher who primarily conducts ethnography with active methamphetamine users – they often don’t actually know what I do. When I go on to explain that a key part of ethnography – participant observation –  involves “hanging out”, chatting, spending time with people as they go about their daily lives, the first question people ask is nearly always, “Aren’t you scared?” (After all, methamphetamine users are regularly portrayed as the most scandalous of all drug users – if you don’t believe me, check out the Meth Project’s Not Even Once campaign).

Always wanting to challenge the stereotype, my response to these questions is usually an abrupt and sometimes bristly “No” followed by “Why should I be scared? They’re people too”, or “Just because they do drugs doesn’t mean they’re dangerous”. And it’s true, their drug use itself does not make my participants dangerous. However, the patterns of criminality some engage in may place them (and subsequently me) in dangerous situations. Therefore, sometimes I am scared when I’m conducting my field work. For the most part, I rely on basic common sense. If someone cold-calls me to talk, I meet him/her somewhere where we both feel safe; I take extra precautions about being alone with men; I am quicker to go to the home of someone I have met previously or who came to me referred by a participant I trust. Most of all, I try to follow Dr. Susan Phillips’ dictum, “you need to trust in order to be trusted” (Phillips 1999), but every now and then I encounter a participant or a situation in which I am forced to recall the many differences between my “normal” and that of the men and women who so openly share their worlds with me. Continue reading

National Drug Abuse Summit, April 2-4

summit

Description: “The 2013 National Rx Drug Abuse Summit will focus on ways we can Make an Impact in the fight against prescription drug abuse.The Summit is the largest national collaboration of professionals from local, state, and federal agencies, business, academia, clinicians, treatment providers, counselors, educators, state and national leaders, and advocates impacted by Rx drug abuse. Through this type of collaboration, your work can be more impactful in bringing solutions to this issue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared a public health crisis in 2012.”

“Conference attendees will include: federal and state legislators and policy makers; federal and state executive leaders; health care practitioners; pharmacists; certified substance abuse counselors and recovery specialists; law enforcement personnel; treatment facility managers; advocates, families, and patients working to increase awareness and effect change; pharmaceutical executives; prominent academicians and researchers; government officials tasked with regulatory oversight; insurance payers and benefits managers; and suppliers of prescription monitoring technologies.”

For more information, see their website: http://nationalrxdrugabusesummit.org/ 

Please leave a comment if you have more information about this event or if you plan on attending.

Summer Institute on Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction

This announcement is regarding the seventh Summer Institute on Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction which will be held at the Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam from July 7 – 20, 2013. Please comment below with more information for our members about this potential opportunity.

DescriptionThis programme offers graduate students of various disciplines and professionals a great opportunity to advance their knowledge in the field of addiction studies in an international environment.

The Institute is an intensive two-week summer programme that seeks to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of addiction and to promote opportunities for international networking among participants. All participants will receive an official certificate from the University of Amsterdam.

The Institute’s classes are intensive seminars with discussions, excursions, faculty lectures and guest lectures by prominent people in the field, like Prof Wim van den Brink, Prof Reinout Wiers (both UvA). The latest updates can be found on the website.

You can visit http://www.uva.nl/summer-addiction  for further information and to apply online.

Deadline for Applications:  March 15, 2013

SMA/EASA Conference CFA due Feb 15

This year, the Society for Medical Anthropology will be hosting our annual conference in June with the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) in Tarragona, Spain at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Unlike a traditional conference, the ADTSG will not be able to submit panel proposals. Instead, we encourage you to submit individual proposals.The following is taken from an email from the SMA president, Doug Feldman:

“Please go to: http://www.medical-anthropology-urv.cat/ to submit paper or film abstracts. To submit an abstract, press “Call for papers” or “Call for films,” and complete the abstract submission form. The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15, 2013. Also, on the website, is valuable information about skills-sharing workshops, participations of senior and junior scholars, challenges for the future, accomodations (including a map with the exact locations, and room prices in euros), conference venue information, and the organizing committee (under “credits”). Registration to pay for the conference fee (120 euros for regular registrants, and 60 euros for student registrants) will open on or about December 20th.  All registrants (whether giving a paper, showing a film, or just attending) will need to pay the registration fee beginning at that time.”

For more information about the conference click here.

Also, please comment on this post if you are planning to attend this conference. That way we know whether to set up a business meeting or at least a group outing. Thanks!