This paper is something of an "article of the book" for the manuscript Sarah and I are writing - ... more This paper is something of an "article of the book" for the manuscript Sarah and I are writing - an ethnographic comparison of addiction treatment across court-mandated "strong-arm," evangelical, and middle-class residential rehab sites. For some reason SJ required one of those Q and A abstracts. Yuck. Here is a chunk from the intro which better expresses the contribution: "Addiction experts generally favor confinement—residential treatment—as a space for individuals to focus on the reconstruction of the damaged self. However, the character of this confinement differs vastly. Just as the addict becomes a flashpoint for “agency panic” or cultural anxieties over self-control (Melley 2002), different forms of rehab become explicit blueprints for desired constructs of the self and the control strategies that will produce them. Our study of three primary forms of residential addiction intervention illustrates how the proliferating carceral sites of punitive, charismatic, and disciplinary rehab for the racialized poor and the working class represent forms of confnement and penality a million steps away from middle-class rehab’s gentle reeducation in secluded retreat."
Through an ethnography of petits producteurs—small scale producers of cheese, olive oil, bread, m... more Through an ethnography of petits producteurs—small scale producers of cheese, olive oil, bread, meat, honey, wool goods, and organic vegetables—we sought to understand how the economy of sustainable production, self-provisioning, and mutual help in the French Haute Vallée de L'Aude and the Corbières came to exist. What motivated the majority of these people to leave urban areas of origin, and to dedicate themselves to small-scale organic and low-tech forms of production? To what extent have they built a common culture and community, and what does it look like? How do they understand and negotiate their relationship to the Business-As-Usual (BAU) market, and to the (notably interventionist) French state? Finally, how has this alternative economy been developed over time, and what future changes might we, or the producers, predict? We offer four contributions toward understanding these alternative economies. First, a confluence of world view and socio-economic conditions enabled these alternative economic practices in this place. Specifically, the Aude was inexpensive enough to allow newcomers to settle and residents welcomed, educated or tolerated them. In turn, newcomers brought radical ideologies about consumption, an interest in learning traditional methods and a tenacity that enabled successive waves of similar practitioners. Second, the state has supported these practices through a variety of programs for new farmers, organic agriculture, maintaining farm land, health care, social security and child support. Without the welfare state and with the expense of industrialized societies, it is difficult to imagine alternative economies developing in ways that are inclusive instead of hierarchical. Third, the umbrella of alternative economic practices encompasses a range of approaches--from a devotion to a life of radical simplicity and low income rather than work to a keen interest in artisanal labor. Finally, as economic times become more difficult, the rhetoric of self sufficiency voiced by neoliberalism and some activist interests alike reverberates around the planet. Self reliance is seen as a dire necessity if people are to survive these times. But the example provided by the Aude alternatifs is strikingly a practice of communal reliance, of creating networks of support and cooperation that rely on being amongst and caring for others.
This article describes an anomalous social space within the field of homelessness in San Francisc... more This article describes an anomalous social space within the field of homelessness in San Francisco, that of “pro” recyclers, homeless men who spend much of their time collecting recyclables for redemption. Unlike the panhandlers, broken shelter-dwellers and small-time hustlers of San Francisco’s Tenderloin and other skid row zones, the recyclers orient much of their existence around work. By working within a unique economic niche provided by the state-supported recycling industry, and by drawing on support from sympathetic residents and advocates, the recyclers create an unusual homeless subculture which, as they themselves argue, has more than a little in common with the hobo jungles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To interrogate the sociological (and political) implications of this case study I use Loïc Wacquant’s eloquent manifesto against sociological “neo-romanticism.” While agreeing with some of Wacquant’s analysis, I argue that his emphasis on the moralism of contemporary urban ethnographers blinds him to the very real concerns with morality and ethics among poor people themselves. The recyclers’ concerns with mutual respect and the pleasures of labor represent, I believe, not post hoc justifications of desperate survival strategies, but a dogged, often passionate collective effort to create a truly different experience and understanding of homelessness itself.
This paper is something of an "article of the book" for the manuscript Sarah and I are writing - ... more This paper is something of an "article of the book" for the manuscript Sarah and I are writing - an ethnographic comparison of addiction treatment across court-mandated "strong-arm," evangelical, and middle-class residential rehab sites. For some reason SJ required one of those Q and A abstracts. Yuck. Here is a chunk from the intro which better expresses the contribution: "Addiction experts generally favor confinement—residential treatment—as a space for individuals to focus on the reconstruction of the damaged self. However, the character of this confinement differs vastly. Just as the addict becomes a flashpoint for “agency panic” or cultural anxieties over self-control (Melley 2002), different forms of rehab become explicit blueprints for desired constructs of the self and the control strategies that will produce them. Our study of three primary forms of residential addiction intervention illustrates how the proliferating carceral sites of punitive, charismatic, and disciplinary rehab for the racialized poor and the working class represent forms of confnement and penality a million steps away from middle-class rehab’s gentle reeducation in secluded retreat."
Through an ethnography of petits producteurs—small scale producers of cheese, olive oil, bread, m... more Through an ethnography of petits producteurs—small scale producers of cheese, olive oil, bread, meat, honey, wool goods, and organic vegetables—we sought to understand how the economy of sustainable production, self-provisioning, and mutual help in the French Haute Vallée de L'Aude and the Corbières came to exist. What motivated the majority of these people to leave urban areas of origin, and to dedicate themselves to small-scale organic and low-tech forms of production? To what extent have they built a common culture and community, and what does it look like? How do they understand and negotiate their relationship to the Business-As-Usual (BAU) market, and to the (notably interventionist) French state? Finally, how has this alternative economy been developed over time, and what future changes might we, or the producers, predict? We offer four contributions toward understanding these alternative economies. First, a confluence of world view and socio-economic conditions enabled these alternative economic practices in this place. Specifically, the Aude was inexpensive enough to allow newcomers to settle and residents welcomed, educated or tolerated them. In turn, newcomers brought radical ideologies about consumption, an interest in learning traditional methods and a tenacity that enabled successive waves of similar practitioners. Second, the state has supported these practices through a variety of programs for new farmers, organic agriculture, maintaining farm land, health care, social security and child support. Without the welfare state and with the expense of industrialized societies, it is difficult to imagine alternative economies developing in ways that are inclusive instead of hierarchical. Third, the umbrella of alternative economic practices encompasses a range of approaches--from a devotion to a life of radical simplicity and low income rather than work to a keen interest in artisanal labor. Finally, as economic times become more difficult, the rhetoric of self sufficiency voiced by neoliberalism and some activist interests alike reverberates around the planet. Self reliance is seen as a dire necessity if people are to survive these times. But the example provided by the Aude alternatifs is strikingly a practice of communal reliance, of creating networks of support and cooperation that rely on being amongst and caring for others.
This article describes an anomalous social space within the field of homelessness in San Francisc... more This article describes an anomalous social space within the field of homelessness in San Francisco, that of “pro” recyclers, homeless men who spend much of their time collecting recyclables for redemption. Unlike the panhandlers, broken shelter-dwellers and small-time hustlers of San Francisco’s Tenderloin and other skid row zones, the recyclers orient much of their existence around work. By working within a unique economic niche provided by the state-supported recycling industry, and by drawing on support from sympathetic residents and advocates, the recyclers create an unusual homeless subculture which, as they themselves argue, has more than a little in common with the hobo jungles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To interrogate the sociological (and political) implications of this case study I use Loïc Wacquant’s eloquent manifesto against sociological “neo-romanticism.” While agreeing with some of Wacquant’s analysis, I argue that his emphasis on the moralism of contemporary urban ethnographers blinds him to the very real concerns with morality and ethics among poor people themselves. The recyclers’ concerns with mutual respect and the pleasures of labor represent, I believe, not post hoc justifications of desperate survival strategies, but a dogged, often passionate collective effort to create a truly different experience and understanding of homelessness itself.
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Papers by Teresa Gowan
"Addiction experts generally favor confinement—residential treatment—as a space for individuals to focus on the reconstruction of the damaged self. However, the character of this confinement differs vastly. Just as the addict becomes a flashpoint for “agency panic” or cultural anxieties over self-control (Melley 2002), different forms of rehab become explicit blueprints for desired constructs of the self and the control strategies that will produce them. Our study of three primary forms of residential addiction intervention illustrates how the proliferating carceral sites of punitive, charismatic, and disciplinary rehab for the racialized poor and the working class represent forms of confnement and penality a million steps away from middle-class rehab’s gentle reeducation in secluded retreat."
We offer four contributions toward understanding these alternative economies. First, a confluence of world view and socio-economic conditions enabled these alternative economic practices in this place. Specifically, the Aude was inexpensive enough to allow newcomers to settle and residents welcomed, educated or tolerated them. In turn, newcomers brought radical ideologies about consumption, an interest in learning traditional methods and a tenacity that enabled successive waves of similar practitioners. Second, the state has supported these practices through a variety of programs for new farmers, organic agriculture, maintaining farm land, health care, social security and child support. Without the welfare state and with the expense of industrialized societies, it is difficult to imagine alternative economies developing in ways that are inclusive instead of hierarchical. Third, the umbrella of alternative economic practices encompasses a range of approaches--from a devotion to a life of radical simplicity and low income rather than work to a keen interest in artisanal labor. Finally, as economic times become more difficult, the rhetoric of self sufficiency voiced by neoliberalism and some activist interests alike reverberates around the planet. Self reliance is seen as a dire necessity if people are to survive these times. But the example provided by the Aude alternatifs is strikingly a practice of communal reliance, of creating networks of support and cooperation that rely on being amongst and caring for others.
"Addiction experts generally favor confinement—residential treatment—as a space for individuals to focus on the reconstruction of the damaged self. However, the character of this confinement differs vastly. Just as the addict becomes a flashpoint for “agency panic” or cultural anxieties over self-control (Melley 2002), different forms of rehab become explicit blueprints for desired constructs of the self and the control strategies that will produce them. Our study of three primary forms of residential addiction intervention illustrates how the proliferating carceral sites of punitive, charismatic, and disciplinary rehab for the racialized poor and the working class represent forms of confnement and penality a million steps away from middle-class rehab’s gentle reeducation in secluded retreat."
We offer four contributions toward understanding these alternative economies. First, a confluence of world view and socio-economic conditions enabled these alternative economic practices in this place. Specifically, the Aude was inexpensive enough to allow newcomers to settle and residents welcomed, educated or tolerated them. In turn, newcomers brought radical ideologies about consumption, an interest in learning traditional methods and a tenacity that enabled successive waves of similar practitioners. Second, the state has supported these practices through a variety of programs for new farmers, organic agriculture, maintaining farm land, health care, social security and child support. Without the welfare state and with the expense of industrialized societies, it is difficult to imagine alternative economies developing in ways that are inclusive instead of hierarchical. Third, the umbrella of alternative economic practices encompasses a range of approaches--from a devotion to a life of radical simplicity and low income rather than work to a keen interest in artisanal labor. Finally, as economic times become more difficult, the rhetoric of self sufficiency voiced by neoliberalism and some activist interests alike reverberates around the planet. Self reliance is seen as a dire necessity if people are to survive these times. But the example provided by the Aude alternatifs is strikingly a practice of communal reliance, of creating networks of support and cooperation that rely on being amongst and caring for others.