Righteous Dopefiend: 21 (California Series in Public Anthropology) - Hardcover

Bourgois, Philippe; Schonberg, Jeff

4.45

1,582 ratings by Goodreads

9780520230880: Righteous Dopefiend: 21 (California Series in Public Anthropology)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520230884 ISBN 13: 9780520230880

Publisher: University of California Press, 2009

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This powerful study immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug addiction in the contemporary United States. For over a decade Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg followed a social network of two dozen heroin injectors and crack smokers on the streets of San Francisco, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income through burglary, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. "Righteous Dopefiend" interweaves stunning black-and-white photographs with vivid dialogue, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis.Its gripping narrative develops a cast of characters around the themes of violence, race relations, sexuality, family trauma, embodied suffering, social inequality, and power relations. The result is a dispassionate chronicle of survival, loss, caring, and hope rooted in the addicts' determination to hang on for one more day and one more 'fix' through a 'moral economy of sharing' that precariously balances mutual solidarity and interpersonal betrayal.

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Review:

"A deeply nuanced picture of a population that cannot escape social reprobation, but deserves social inclusion... The collage of case studies, field notes, personal narratives and photography is nothing short of enthralling." - Starred Review--Publishers Weekly "Get this book and read it... A hell of a story... These people walk by you every day and should not remain invisible."--San Francisco Bay Guardian "Leaders and readers alike should pay attention to - and heed its warnings and advice... Unflinching and objective... Must be read - and seen."--San Francisco Chronicle "The authors dare you to ignore the subculture in their field notes and arresting black-and-white images, urging that our failed social systems need repairing and we cannot continue to let these outliers remain invisible."--Utne "One of the most original and important works of its kind... A pathbreaking photo-ethnography, powerful in presentation, content and scope... A must-read, [it] will rock the world of the sheltered middle class and shed new light on the pervasive structural inequalities plaguing contemporary society."--Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author:

Philippe Bourgois is Richard Perry University Professor of Anthropology and Family and Community Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeff Schonberg is a photographer and a graduate student in medical anthropology at the University of California, San Francisco.

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