1,721,006 research outputs found
Stigma, identity construction and the ‘who’ of drug use
No full textThis chapter introduces the latest edited collection in the European Society for Social Drug Research series. It contextualises the timeliness of a focus on the range of people who use drugs and draws out the relevance of stigma and identity in the way these people are conceptualsied by a range of actors. It provides a guide to the chapters presented in the rest of the collection
Editorial: Intersections in (new) drug research
Get PDFIn this special issue, we contend tht there is much merit in studying the intersections between NPS, other forms of new drugs such as Human Enhancement Drugs (HED), and more traditional illegal substances such as cannabis, ecstasy/MDMA, cocaine. We argue that treating NPS, not as an entirely new and distinct problem, but rather as the latest chapter in our history of narcotica can have many benefits in terms of oboth our wider thoretical understanding in this araea and the practical interventions that we introduce
Soldiers, Shamans, and Supermarket Brands: A Criminological Investigation into Psychedelic Drug Use
No full textThe early 21st century has brought forth a renewed scientific interest in the clinical application of psychedelic drugs. As this so called 'psychedelic renaissance' continues to generate a wealth of psychotherapeutic research and scholarship, scientific discussions around the drugs remain fixated upon medical specifics and neurobiological contexts. This one dimensional discourse contributes to an epistemological closure as psychedelics are continuously framed within the rigid medicalized jargon of clinically regulated research. In contrast, the small scale, clinical research population that has participated in 'renaissance' studies pales in comparison to the number of users ingesting psychedelic drugs outside of regulated clinical settings. Acknowledging the narrow scope of the dominate psychotherapeutic discourse this thesis expands the scientific discussion by identifying and examining three prominent contexts of unregulated, non-clinical psychedelic drug use: 1) the individual psychedelic drug use of military veterans; 2) the touristic consumption of ayahuasca 'shamanism' in Amazonian Peru; and 3) the operation of psychedelic retreat companies within the 'spiritual supermarket' realm. Using qualitative ethnographic methods across three distinct case studies corresponding to these contexts, this thesis demonstrates how psychedelic drug use constitutes a narrative vehicle for identity performance, neo-colonialism, New Age salvation, and corporate commodification. Future research should therefore move beyond the existing confines of clinical, psychotherapeutic discourse to develop critical socio-cultural (and criminological) understandings of the future societal trajectory of psychedelic drugs and their use
Elixir of the South Pacific or Harmful Muddy Water: Examining the consumption of Kava from a cross cultural perspective and the lived experience of macro-level social processes
Get PDFThis thesis delves into the cross-cultural realm of Kava consumption, unravelling its intricacies through the lived experience of Kava consumers influenced by macro-level social processes. Kava, a traditional South Pacific beverage is derived from the roots of the Piper Methysticum plant, is emblematic of cultural identity and communal traditions across Vanuatu and other south pacific countries. The thesis journey embarks on an exploration of how Kava consumption is influenced and shaped by the interplay of cultural norms, economic forces, and external drug policies, thus delving into its cross-cultural manifestations. The primary objective of this research is to understand how macro-level social processes influence the utilization of Kava across diverse locations, with a focus on the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and Vanuatu. This research employs a mixed-methods approach, incorporating semistructured interviews and ethnographic methods. Data collection spanned multiple locations, including the UK, US, and Vanuatu. The study's methodology centred on qualitative analysis, allowing for an in-depth exploration of participants' experiences and perceptions. The research elucidates significant variations in Kava consumption across case study locations. In the UK and US, Kava is procured primarily through online channels and is often motivated by health concerns, as conventional medicine has failed to deliver desired outcomes. However, in Vanuatu, Kava consumption occurs within the social context of community gatherings, deeply rooted in cultural practices and social interaction. Macro-level social processes exert a distinct influence in the UK and US, where drug policy and cultural conservatism are perceived as 'othering' Kava and its users. This galvanizes a stance in favour of Kava consumption as a form of alternative medicine. In contrast, Vanuatu's cultural embeddedness diminishes the relevance of external drug policies, emphasizing cultural protectionism and a rejection of Western alcohol in favour of Kava. This thesis bears broader implications in the realms of cultural preservation, international relations, public health, social justice, labour practices, and community empowerment. It highlights the need for culturally sensitive drug policies and the ethical consumption of traditional substances. It underscores the importance of respecting cultural diversity and fostering global cooperation in addressing cultural conflicts and drug regulations. Furthermore, the thesis provides a framework for understanding how the use of other substances intersects with the influence of cultural identity, economics, health narratives and drug policy. The lessons learned from Kava consumption shed light on the lived experiences of individuals within diverse cultural contexts and provide insights into alternative medicine, ethical consumption, and the integration of traditional remedies into public health strategies
Isis and the Theater of Terror: A Study of Official English-Language Videos (2014-2017)
Get PDFThis thesis examines 79 official English-language ISIS videos from 2014-2017 to enhance the understanding of ISIS global propaganda apparatus. It includes a threefold analysis and starts from a content analysis guided by Braddock and Horgan (2016) to explore the prevalence of and the change in production characteristic and thematic distribution of the videos. The second analysis then goes further to quantify the speech acts used in the videos through the lens of Quentin Skinner's (2002) hermeneutic theory of interpretation. Using the previously established methodological approach, the third and final analysis qualitatively examines four major videos that respectively represent four most dominant speech acts used in the videos. The results indicate that, first, the largest portion of themes were about enemy and religion, and the theme of Sharia (Islamic law) is featured most prominently in the videos; second, directive, expressive, and assertive were the most common classes of speech acts, and the four most prevalent individual speech acts were threatening, condemning, inviting, and inciting; third, the most prevalent themes and speech acts mostly maintained a consistent presence over the course of three years. This study concludes that ISIS has generated a highly sophisticated global media infrastructure and operation system and that possess a great deal of capacity and flexibility to cope with circumstances that the group faced on the ground to respond to group-related real-world events
Contested Voices: Secular women activists in the age of Isis
Get PDFAt the heart of this thesis are two organizations; Inspire in Britain and Brigade de Mères in France, battling Islamic fundamentalism and gender inequality; and five life stories of 'secular' Muslim women working alongside them. While these women are widely recognized and celebrated among 'elite' circles in the west, they have been largely dismissed by postcolonial feminist scholarship as uncritical mouthpieces for their respective states 'anti-ISIS' agenda. Despite the controversy surrounding these women, this thesis is an attempt to fully engage with such voices rather than avoiding or dismissing them. Its main aim is to examine the challenges and complexities of their engagement in activism, the ways in which discourses of race, gender, religion and ideology have shaped the terms of this engagement and their efforts to make their narratives intelligible to themselves and to others. Data was collected through ethnographic involvement; narratively-informed life story interviews, semi-structured qualitative interviews and documents, and reflexively interpreted using narrative methods. The first section examines the work undertaken by the latter two organizations. The second draws on narrative analysis to explore life stories and journeys to activism. The third explores the ways these women position themselves, their politics and their work within the wider socio-political and historical contexts they are embedded in. The final section investigates the narratives these women draw on when talking about their activism and the circumstances under which these narratives were constructed. In light of the geopolitical factors at play since the early 2000s; 9/11 and the subsequent 'War on Terror,' the emergence of ISIS, the crisis of national identity and the rise of right-wing politics, the narratives of these women reveal contradictory pressures. Islamic fundamentalists see the activism of these women as a western imperialist project that does not engage with the reality of Muslim women. Postcolonial feminists valorise 'religious' agency as an indigenous alternative to western secularism and therefore dismiss their efforts. Neo-orientalists continue to position them as the 'other.' And in the name of respect and tolerance of 'other' cultures, sections of the left see them as Islamophobes. In reality, it seems that these ideological poles instrumentalize Muslim women's emancipation for the sake of attacking each other while allowing little discursive space for women themselves to articulate their positions. Intrinsically, this thesis aspires to map a 'complex' image of Muslim women's activism that encourages alternatives and bridges the current binary constructions of Muslim women as either victimized or fully liberated
Peer support in prisons: exploring the role and experience of peer-led induction on male prisoners in their transfer and transition to open Prison
No full textFor over a century, reports into the conditions of prisons in England and Wales have documented the mental health and wellbeing issues and the experiences of those held within them. These are experienced more acutely during transfer, transition and adaptation to prison. To address the risk of self-harming behaviour and suicide, institutional safer custody strategy has introduced support measures following a prisoner's reception into a prison establishment. Implemented throughout the prison estate in England and Wales, the most prominent intervention is Peer-Led Induction, a power-sharing initiative symbolic of reconfigured power within the prison estate. However, evaluation as to whether this initiative delivers on its aims and objectives is lacking, especially in the context of prison transfer and adaptation to the open prison estate, which itself is an under-researched area. To explore these areas, this thesis collected data through 26 semi-structured interviews, capturing the lived experience of 21 ex-prisoners who experienced Peer-Led Induction in open prison, alongside 5 prison officers involved in the process of Peer-Led Induction. In evaluating the impact of Peer-Led Induction interventions on the wellbeing of adult male prisoners in the early days following transfer, the study established that these processes place considerable strain on the participants' mental health, reconciling them with both historic and contemporary Pains of Imprisonment. The thesis demonstrates that reconfigured penal power through this power-sharing initiative faces structural and organisational impediments surrounding knowledge management and knowledge conversion, though institutional managerialism, ineffective management and resistant staff cultures. The thesis conceptualises these as indicative of 'tick-box cultures' and fulfilment of management, staff and mentor self-serving objectives. The application of power through strategies of 'responsibilisation' demonstrates that a needs-driven approach to induction is lacking; self-serving motivations, paradoxical support, and abuse and misuse of power interact to divert focus from actually helping prisoners. Peer-Led Induction points to 'intervention-itis', penal intervention as a quick fix amongst policy makers, but lacking the theoretical and evaluative foundation needed to meet its intended aims and objectives. In fact, it generates a range of unintended, 'iatrogenic' outcomes, which exacerbate the pain and 'tightness' of imprisonment. The thesis, therefore, explores the role of Programme Theory and its significance in the design, implementation, and delivery of Peer-Led Induction. The thesis can be situated within a framework of policy and intervention change to inform future Peer-Led Induction programmes and wider interventions and to deliver the best mental health and wellbeing outcomes for those men transferring and transitioning to the open estate
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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