"Drugs, Politics and Culture". Taught by Prof. Hugh Gusterson, MIT, Anthropology 21A.344, Cambridge, MA. Spring 1998.
Course Description
This class examines the relationship between a number of mind-altering substances and cultural processes. We look at the relationship between drugs and such phenomena as poverty, religion, technology, inter-generational conflict, colonialism, and global capitalism. We read about the physiological and psychological effects of these substances -- ranging from alcohol and tobacco to LSD and heroin -- and ask why different societies prohibit and sanction different drugs. We examine the use of mind-altering substances in a number of "traditional" societies, and follow the development of a global trade in such substances as sugar, coffee, tea, nicotine, cocaine, and marijuana concurrent with the evolution of global capitalism. We look at the use of LSD as a mind-control substance by the CIA and as a mind-altering substance in the 1960's counter-culture, and we look at the rise of prozac and ritalin as popular, if controversial, pharmaceutical products in the 1990's. Finally, we evaluate America's current drug laws.
Reading List
From Chocolate to Morphine -- Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen (Houghton Mifflin, 1993).
Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants -- Wolfgang Schivelbusch (Vintage, 1993).
Running on Ritalin: A Physician Reflects on Children, Society, and Performance in a Pill -- Lawrence Diller (Bantam Books, 1998).
In Search of Respect in El Barrio -- Philippe Bourgois (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Course Outline
| Week 1 |
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Introduction
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Week 2
Set and Setting |
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From Chocolate to Morphine -- Weil and Rosen, pp.9-35, pp. 161-182.
Becoming a Marihuana User -- Howard Becker, American Journal of Sociology 59: 235-242 (1953).
Opium, Cocaine and Marijuana in American History -- David Musto, Scientific American 265: 40-47 (1991).
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Week 3
History, Trade, Taste |
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Schivelbusch, chapter 2.
The Rise of Yuppie Coffees and the Reimagination of Class in the United States -- William Roseberry, American Anthropologist 98(4):762-75 (1996).
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Week 4
Alcohol I |
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Schivelbusch, chapters 5, 6, 7.
(Optional Background: Weil and Rosen, Chapter 7)
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Week 5
Alcohol II |
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Beer as a Locus of Value Among the West African Kofyar -- Robert Netting, Am. Anthropol. 66:375-84 (1964).
Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge Drinking in College: A national survey of students at 140 campuses -- H. Wechsler, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association 272: 1672-1677 (1994).
MIT report on alcohol abuse
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Week 6
Alcohol III |
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The Age of Ambivalence: Drinking in Modern America -- Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin, in Lender and Martin, Drinking in America: A History pp.169-204 (Free Press, 1987).
-- Michael Massing, New York Times Magazine March 22 (1988).
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Week 7
Hallucinogens I: "Primitive Societies." |
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Hallucinogens: Cross-Cultural Perspectives -- Marlene Dobkin de Rios, (Waveland Press, 1990). Preface & Chapters 4, 6, & 12.
(Optional Background: Weil and Rosen, chapter 8)
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| Week 8 |
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First Paper Due
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Week 9
Hallucinogens II: the CIA |
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The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind-Control -- John Marks, (McGraw-Hill, 1980). Chapters 4, 5, 6, & 8.
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Week 10
Hallucinogens III: the 60s |
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Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream -- Jay Stevens, (Harper, 1988). Chapters 22-26.
Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD -- Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain (Grove Weidenfeld). Pp.259-276.
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Week 11
Hallucinogens IV: the 60s to the 90s |
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She Comes in Colors -- Timothy Leary The Politics of Ecstasy (Ronin Books, reprinted from Playboy). Pp.118-159.
Mystery Drugs II: Acid Metaphysics -- In David Lenson On Drugs (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). pp.143-158.
The Chemical Generation -- In Matthew Collin Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (Serpent's Tail, 1998). Pp.267-316.
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Week 12
Pharmaceuticals: Ritalin I
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Running on Ritalin -- Diller |
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Week 13
Pharmaceuticals: Ritalin II
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Diller (continued) |
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Week 14
Pharmaceuticals: Ritalin III
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Diller (continued) |
Week 15
Pharmaceuticals: A Critique |
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Millions for Viagra, Pennies for the Poor -- Ken Silverstein The Nation, July 19, 1999, pp.13-19.
Toxic Psychiatry -- Peter Breggin (St. Martin's). Chapters 13 & 15.
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| Week 16 |
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Second Paper Due
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Week 17
Cocaine in Latin America |
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Cocaine: White Gold Rush in Peru -- Edmundo Morales (). Pp.13-24, 67-93, 121-158.
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Week 18
Crack in the U.S. I
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In Search of Respect -- Philippe Bourgois
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Week 19
Crack in the U.S. II
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Bourgois (continued)
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Week 20
Crack in the U.S. III
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Bourgois (continued) |
Week 21
Crack and Cocaine: An Overview |
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Columbia: Cocaine and the "Miracle" of Modernity in Medallin -- Mary Roldan, In Paul Gootenberg (ed.) Cocaine: Global Histories (Routledge Press, 1999). Pp.165-182.
Runaway Engines of Desire -- In David Lenson On Drugs (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). Pp. 115-135.
Blow Money: Cocaine, Currency, and Consumerism -- In David Lenson On Drugs (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). Pp.173-178.
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Week 22
The War on Drugs I |
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The Politics of Heroin -- Alfred McCoy (Lawrence Hill, 1991). Preface.
The Fantasy Traders -- In Martin Booth Opium: A History (St. Martin's Griffin, 1996). Pp.108-139.
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Week 23
The War on Drugs II |
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Reefer Madness -- Eric Schlosser Atlantic Monthly, August 1994.
Three Fatal Flaws in the War on Drugs -- Eve Bertram, Morris Blachman, Kenneth Sharpe & Peter Andreas In Drug War Politics (UC Press). Pp.9-31.
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Week 24
The War on Drugs III |
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The Case for legalization -- Ethan Nadelmann The Public Interest #92 (Summer, 1988). Pp.3-31.
Legalization: A High-Risk Alternative in the War on Drugs -- James Inciardi and Duane McBride American Behavioral Scientist 32(3): 1989. Pp.259-289.
Legalization is Not the Answer -- Mathea Falco In The Making of a Drug-Free America (Times Books, 1992).
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Week 25
The War on Drugs IV |
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America's Altered States -- Joshua Wolf Shenk Harper's (May 1999). Pp.38-52.
Pharmaka and Pharmakos -- In David Lenson On Drugs (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). Pp.7-24.
Toward a Diversity of Consciousness-- In David Lenson On Drugs (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). Pp189-201.
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