Suspect that few posts are placed in many of these categories even
when it would be appropriate. Said by one who posts FAST as the ADHS
website competes with other responsibilities.
On 3/16/09, David Trippel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> FYI -
> I looked again and found not 4, but 7 categories on the ADHS website
> related to addiction/problems/control.
> Below is an imperfect attempt at grouping into four topics the 10% of
> ADHS Website Categories that were not substances or countries.
>
> Addiction,problems,control (WOD - supply and demand reduction)
>
> AA Research
> Addiction
> Alcoholism
> Law Enforcement
> Licensing and Legislation
> Prohibition
> Temperance
>
> Scholarship
>
> Academia
> Book Reviews
> Books
> Calls for Papers
> Conferences
> Executive Council
> Internet Resources
> Libraries and Archives
> Online Bibliography
> Society News
> Syllabi
>
> Fields of study/culture
>
> Advertising
> Art
> Literature
> Music
> Religion
> Sport
> Television
>
> Subspecialties of substances
>
> Brewing (beer)
> Drinking Spaces (alcohol)
> Hookah (cannabis)
>
> Dave
>
>
> On Mar 12, 2009, at 8:21 AM, Ernest Kurtz wrote:
>
>> Jon,
>>
>> For what it is worth, my 73 year-old memory, in the field since
>> 1975, recalls the SHAD story as you present it. And for one who
>> prefers to be known as "historian" rather than "addiction scholar,"
>> I very much appreciate your approach and that of the courageous
>> scholars who formed it.
>>
>> Two cents, please?
>>
>> ernie kurtz
>>
>> On Mar 11, 2009, at 5:05 PM, Jon Miller wrote:
>>
>>> Regarding David Trippel's analysis of the SHAD website --
>>>
>>> From the start, the Social History of Alcohol Review (now the
>>> Social History of Alcohol and Drugs) was biased towards "Social
>>> History." The history of this term extends back to before I was
>>> born, but it's my sense that in the mid-1960s through the 1970s,
>>> "social history" was often regarded as a kind of history that
>>> leaned into sociology and primarily concerned itself with social
>>> structures and social change. Temperance agitation in the U.S., as
>>> well as the practice of drinking alcoholic beverages, with their
>>> long, shifting, and well-documented history, looked like a pretty
>>> good subject for "social historians." Perhaps some of the Alcohol
>>> and Temperance History Group members on this listserv can correct
>>> my sketchy sense of what was originally meant by "Social History"
>>> when the group newsletter first appeared as the Social History of
>>> Alcohol Review. No doubt that the term has always meant different
>>> things to different people, especially in a group as international
>>> as the ATHG / ADHS. And I also think that "sociology" is not
>>> always present in "social history" when people think about the
>>> term today. Regardless, it should be noted that, first and
>>> foremost, the unifying interest or main "bias" of the group was a
>>> historical one.
>>>
>>> As for the categories on the website, I can't speak for Matt or
>>> David, but when I was writing a lot of those, I filed whatever
>>> historical scholarship and news that I found -- in some cases,
>>> news reports that explained the recent history of something -- by
>>> region. The idea was to emphasize the international scope of the
>>> organization and the scholarship. Categories like "addiction" were
>>> created for historical work that did not have a region, and then I
>>> believe we continued to use the tag whenever the word was included
>>> in the title of a work. So "Addiction in Ancient China" began to
>>> go into both "Addiction" and "China," though at the beginning all
>>> such work went only into "China." I believe that if someone were
>>> to look at the entries, and not just at the categories or tags,
>>> they would find information about the history of addiction,
>>> problem drinking, and control in a whole lot of the regional
>>> categories.
>>>
>>> Jon Miller
>>>
>>>> On the addiction studies issue -
>>>> Of the 270 or so "Categories" in the right-hand column of the
>>>> ADHS website (albeit most are countries and substances), there
>>>> are (I think, correctly) only 3 that nominally have to do with
>>>> addiction (those 3 all start with the letter "a"), if you count
>>>> Temperance that would make 4 topics. While this may just be a
>>>> nominal feature, it seems the Social History of Alcohol and Drugs
>>>> does not substantively incline towards "addiction" or "problems"
>>>> or "control". A survey of the saved entries could prove this
>>>> wrong, but that may be evidence of media bias, not ADHS blog
>>>> editing biases.
>>>>
>>>> From within, the SHAD (and ADHS) discipline (research and
>>>> teaching) seems influenced in the direction of an "addiction",
>>>> "problems", or "control" overview by ideological preferences,
>>>> accepting historiographical biases, addiction treatment beliefs,
>>>> and getting WOD funding.
>>>>
>>>> From without, It seems growth of the SHAD discipline is
>>>> influenced by material from various related disciplines including
>>>> those mentioned before such as medicine, biology, psychology,
>>>> political science, government, economics, religion, literature,
>>>> as well as sociology and history.
>>>>
>>>> But there are also fields that don't come to mind as quickly that
>>>> produce SHAD related material as research and teaching "intrude
>>>> on" them, too, to use Robin's phrase, such as philosophy,
>>>> marketing, business, retailing, wholesaling, international
>>>> studies, various art disciplines, music, food sciences,
>>>> agriculture, and chemistry. I wonder how many academics or
>>>> professionals are members of this list who properly "intrude"
>>>> into these areas?
>>>>
>>>> Here are three topics I find interesting:
>>>> 1 - How SHAD weathers the various forces influencing it as it grows.
>>>> 2 - Discovering and understanding the historiographical biases of
>>>> the past and present SHAD.
>>>> 3 - Deconstructing socially prevalent ideologies around alcohol
>>>> and drugs, both past and present.
>>>>
>>>> Dave
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 9, 2009, at 4:37 AM, Robin G W Room wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dear Alan --
>>>>> I'm sympathetic with your general line, but you veer off-
>>>>> course concerning
>>>>> the new minimum pricing initiative in Scotland. the best
>>>>> evidence is that a
>>>>> higher price pushes down the amount of drinking by those who are
>>>>> very heavy
>>>>> drinkers or addicted at least as much as it pushes down drinking
>>>>> by light
>>>>> drinkers. The idea that addiction is so strong that of course
>>>>> price will have
>>>>> no effect is attractive but, on balance, wrong.
>>>>> As for the place of an alcohol and drug subspecialty in
>>>>> standard academic
>>>>> disciplines, we are indeed marginal to all -- from sociology and
>>>>> economics to
>>>>> psychiatry and biology. Literary studies is just one more in
>>>>> this crowd.
>>>>> Kettil Bruun, an alcohol/drug sociologist, once remarked that
>>>>> this opened great
>>>>> opportunities for us as researchers -- we could intrude on other
>>>>> disciplines'
>>>>> territories without them feeling affronted. I myself have taken
>>>>> the
>>>>> opportunity along the way, for instance, to revisit literary
>>>>> studies (a field I
>>>>> was in through an MA) to write about the famous generation of
>>>>> American "literary drunks", and so on, without encountering
>>>>> complaint.
>>>>> But I recognise this is easier to do if you embark on a
>>>>> career in the "soft
>>>>> money" grant-writing mode, or can get a "hard-money" research
>>>>> job in the field,
>>>>> than if you are seeking a teaching job defined around a
>>>>> department's teaching
>>>>> needs.
>>>>> Besides the shared stigma with the clients, the problem is that
>>>>> alcohol/drug problems fall between the cracks of the major
>>>>> professions and
>>>>> social institutions in western societies.
>>>>> Robin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2009-03-08, at 13:35, Alan Joyce wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dear Michael & John,
>>>>>> This marginalisation of 'addiction studies' also impacts on
>>>>>> the medical and
>>>>>> related 'caring professions' with GP's in the UK who work with
>>>>>> drug and
>>>>>> alcohol users frequently incurring the unwarranted
>>>>>> disciplinary attentions
>>>>> of the
>>>>>> General Medical Council, the odium of their peer's and fellow
>>>>>> professionals.
>>>>>> Sadly the marginalisation of drug and alcohol users is
>>>>>> reflected in the
>>>>>> marginalisation of those who work with them and- script- them.
>>>>>> In the early 2000's for an all too fleeting, brief and heady
>>>>>> period that saw
>>>>>> the creation of the National Treatment Agency, the recognition
>>>>>> of 'service
>>>>>> user', drug user advocacy and other user/carer groups, it
>>>>>> appeared that
>>>>> health
>>>>>> and harm reduction would finally be brought in from the cold
>>>>>> and form the
>>>>>> axis around which UK Gov drug and alcohol policy (albeit the
>>>>>> alcohol policy
>>>>> was
>>>>>> very much an after thought- tacked on late in the day) - would
>>>>>> turn.
>>>>>> Groups such as the 'Substance Misuse Management in General
>>>>>> Practice' working
>>>>>> party started to train, support and create an ethos where drug
>>>>>> and alcohol
>>>>>> treatment formed part of general practice and 'normal' health
>>>>>> care. One
>>>>> could-
>>>>>> ideally- get ones methadone script from your family GP at the
>>>>>> same time as
>>>>>> getting treatment for other health problems. It looked like
>>>>>> users, carer's,
>>>>> &
>>>>>> drug and alcohol treatment would finally be released from the
>>>>>> ghetto's to
>>>>>> which they (post Brain 2) had been consigned.
>>>>>> Sadly & in my view tragically this proved to be a false dawn
>>>>>> as drug and
>>>>>> alcohol policy became increasingly subordinated to the criminal
>>>>> justice/social
>>>>>> 'engineering' agenda's of the day as compassion fatigue set in
>>>>>> and
>>>>> politicians
>>>>>> and rather un-civil servants found- to their surprise- that
>>>>>> methadone was no
>>>>>> panacea for grinding poverty, economic and educational
>>>>>> marginalisation,
>>>>>> teenage pregnancy, rising levels of poly drug(notably crack,
>>>>>> cocaine ) and
>>>>>> alcohol use, homelessness & the blight of post Friedmanite
>>>>>> economic theology
>>>>> that
>>>>>> persists to this day.
>>>>>> The multitude were becoming increasingly intoxicated and the
>>>>>> spectre of the
>>>>>> horde becoming truly revolting- as well as increasingly
>>>>>> 'repugnant'- stalked
>>>>>> the ruling caste & all who suckled at the manifold teats of
>>>>>> the global
>>>>>> leviathan.
>>>>>> Anxiety's about the 'emergent' under class, the benefit
>>>>>> prole's, became
>>>>>> increasingly evident and political, media, social and other
>>>>>> commentary from
>>>>> the
>>>>>> ruling caste betrayed not only anxieties but a deep loathing-
>>>>>> disgust-
>>>>> hatred-
>>>>>> for this 'newly discovered' urban poor.(The rural poor were
>>>>>> 'discovered' a
>>>>>> little later).
>>>>>> The media simulacrum created a land where crime and
>>>>>> criminality was
>>>>>> everywhere- no street-no home- no car- no property- no person-
>>>>>> was safe from
>>>>> the
>>>>>> avarice of the non working poor.
>>>>>> Further- the children of this new 'caste' of 'ZEK's were a
>>>>>> demon brood-
>>>>>> muggers, violent, illiterate, druggies, hoodies, knife wielding,
>>>>>> 'shameless',(currently one of the best UK TV drama's- and one
>>>>>> that re-
>>>>> humanises those who
>>>>>> have been de-humanised)- they epitomised everything that
>>>>>> caused the middle
>>>>>> classes and all 'decent' people fear, anxiety, loathing &
>>>>>> distress. Sadly it
>>>>> seems
>>>>>> that Marcuse's maxim - that crime was a form of resistance to
>>>>>> colonisation
>>>>>> by Capital- albeit one without 'class consciousness'- was
>>>>>> forgotten.
>>>>>> What's more in a society where conspicuous consumption
>>>>>> (Thorstien Veblan?)
>>>>>> reigned supreme & celebrity 'culture' was the great levelleras
>>>>>> well as the
>>>>>> lifestyle to which we all should aspire, the 'new' poor wanted
>>>>>> it all and
>>>>> wanted
>>>>>> it now! Deferred gratification- simply not possible on a minimum
>>>>>> income-could be dispensed with- 'take what you want-take what
>>>>>> you need- &
>>>>> wait for no
>>>>>> one' . Need a flash car- why not take one- no need for keys-
>>>>>> just a sprung
>>>>>> centre punch and that BMW is yours for the taking.
>>>>>> In response to these anxieties a whole raft of legislation was
>>>>>> enacted
>>>>>> against the new 'enemy within'. The Prime Ministers son found
>>>>>> drunk,
>>>>> disheveled &
>>>>>> disorderly in Trafalgar Square makes headline news but gets a
>>>>>> police car
>>>>>> 'taxi ride' home. A child born of lower parentage could expect
>>>>>> no such
>>>>> tender
>>>>>> mercy- instead the evil spawn of the new poor could expect a
>>>>>> drug test,
>>>>> an 'Anti
>>>>>> Social Behaviour Order', Drug Treatment & Testing orders, and
>>>>>> the full
>>>>>> majesty of the law to be applied to every minutiae of their
>>>>>> waking,
>>>>> sleeping,
>>>>>> lives.
>>>>>> The children of the Elite- the likes of David Cameron, Oliver
>>>>>> Letwin, et-al-
>>>>>> could run amok in Oxbridge restaurants- buying the
>>>>>> acquiescence and
>>>>>> complicity of the restaurant owners, abused minimum waged
>>>>>> staff- etc- with -
>>>>>> literally- showers of cash as they quaffed champagne, took
>>>>>> cocaine, and
>>>>> prepared for
>>>>>> a life in politics and power.(Allegedly of course).
>>>>>> Such behaviour on the part of the ruling elite, of the
>>>>>> celebrity culture,
>>>>>> was hi-jinks and jolly japes- good for a media story or three
>>>>>> but no cause
>>>>> for
>>>>>> hand wringing, existential angst, or legislative might.
>>>>>> But as for the children of those living in 'social housing',
>>>>>> those whose
>>>>>> parents, parents were the unemployed of Thatchers brave new
>>>>>> Britain, whose
>>>>>> parents were the children of that generation of the
>>>>>> dispossessed, this was a
>>>>> cause
>>>>>> for crimminalisation and concern. So we have seen over the
>>>>>> past decade the
>>>>>> 'crimminalisation' of childhood, childhood is a problem to be
>>>>>> controlled,
>>>>>> cajoled, managed, teenagers a threat to be monitored,
>>>>>> contained and
>>>>> constrained,
>>>>>> clinically and socially pathologised.
>>>>>> Surplus to the requirements of Globalisation and transnational
>>>>>> Capital these
>>>>>> children of the poor are unwanted- of no value and therefore
>>>>>> deemed to be
>>>>>> valueless- to have no values- amoral- these kids were 'feral'
>>>>>> and merited
>>>>>> treating as such. This much the media pundits, the academic's
>>>>>> and their
>>>>> political
>>>>>> masters could agree upon- what small comforts the new lumpen
>>>>>> prole's could
>>>>>> enjoy- cheap booze- fags-heroin-cheap cocaine-cannabis- was
>>>>>> something 'they'
>>>>> (
>>>>>> do I mean the ruling caste or the prole poor?) could not
>>>>>> afford nor allow.
>>>>>> So we have seen the revival of the same old litany &
>>>>>> demonology of old- the
>>>>>> 'Crack Epidemic', the 'Junky Scum', 'The Brew Crew', all are
>>>>>> redolent of the
>>>>>> 'whorey' old mythology of past times- when demon Gin was
>>>>>> 'Mothers Ruin' and
>>>>>> opium just a habit- but one that the ruling caste with their
>>>>>> ether kits,
>>>>>> silver syringes and morphine, afternoon teas for the 'lady's
>>>>>> who lunch',
>>>>> could be
>>>>>> indulged in but one that spelt peril & ruination for the
>>>>>> Victorian poor.
>>>>>> Berridge and Edwards study of opium use in 19th century
>>>>>> England is
>>>>> illuminating-
>>>>>> the intrepid investigative reporters who ventured into the
>>>>>> 'fenlands' of
>>>>> East
>>>>>> Anglia, the public houses of the East End of London where the
>>>>>> cheapest beer
>>>>>> was one potentiated with opium, have an uncanny resemblance to
>>>>>> the reportage
>>>>>> of the 'dirty' habits and 'vices' of the modern day poor.
>>>>>> Well- that's gone somewhat off topic and I've - in the words
>>>>>> of Nietzsche :
>>>>>> "Forgotten my umbrella"- that is the thrust of what I intended
>>>>>> to convey- so
>>>>>> I'll call it a day- and sign off by sounding my alarm at the
>>>>>> folly of the
>>>>> new
>>>>>> Scottish Governments policy of Alcohol related Harm Reduction
>>>>>> by pricing.
>>>>>> Why my alarm- the idea- as I understand it- is to link the
>>>>>> price of alcohol
>>>>>> directly to it's 'strength' per UK measure. SO a 500 ml can of
>>>>>> 'Carlsberg
>>>>>> Special Brew' (despite it's association with the poor it is
>>>>>> rumoured to have
>>>>>> been made for Churchill & was a favoured 'tipple' of this well
>>>>>> known boozer)-
>>>>>
>>>>>> which contains 4.5 UK units of alcohol will attract a higher
>>>>>> 'levy' than a
>>>>> 500
>>>>>> ml can of "Carlsberg Lager" which has about 2 UK units per can.
>>>>>> The theory being that this will compel the urban and rural
>>>>>> poor who favour
>>>>>> strong alcohol and are therefore at greater risk of alcohol
>>>>>> related harm to
>>>>>> modify there alcohol use and induce them to drink weaker &
>>>>>> cheaper booze &
>>>>>> brands.
>>>>>> Sadly- I fear that such measures will see those most at risk
>>>>>> and those
>>>>>> already alcohol dependent re-prioritise their budgets- with
>>>>>> their favourite
>>>>> tipple
>>>>>> coming ahead of such trivial needs such as food, heating,
>>>>>> rent, energy
>>>>>> bills, clothing, health, etc.
>>>>>> As for the 'binge drinking masses' - if they can afford to
>>>>>> drink 'out on the
>>>>>> town & tiles' then they will continue to be able to do so- de-
>>>>>> facto- they
>>>>>> are not the lumpen prole- but those who are relatively
>>>>>> privelaged to be in
>>>>>> waged or even well paid- employment- either that or they are
>>>>>> pretty good at
>>>>> crime
>>>>>> with the attendant risks 'coming with the job's".
>>>>>> I'm not aware of any evidence base that suggests pricing per
>>>>>> unit will
>>>>>> reduce alcohol related harm- indeed I suspect it may serve to
>>>>>> aggravate it
>>>>> as the
>>>>>> cost of booze prohibits expenditure on a decent diet and other
>>>>>> things that
>>>>> in
>>>>>> themselves serve to reduce the harm of alcohol and/or other
>>>>>> drug use.
>>>>>> Best wishes: Alan Joyce.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Michael,
>>>>>> I concur with the wisdom already expressed on this point. What
>>>>>> you are
>>>>>> missing is this: Alcohol and Addiction Studies does NOT share the
>>>>> respectability
>>>>>> of what might be called Diversity Studies, the political
>>>>>> correctness of
>>>>> which
>>>>>> more or less guarantees space at professional conferences and
>>>>>> in hiring
>>>>>> pools. Nor does our field qualify as “Identity Scholarship,”
>>>>>> another
>>>>> approved
>>>>>> approach. During the heyday of DIONYSOS, the MLA
>>>>>> consistently rejected any
>>>>>> and all proposed panels in A&AS; perhaps it still does.
>>>>>> Certainly I would
>>>>> not
>>>>>> advise a new PhD in English to come out nakedly and solely in
>>>>>> our field. It
>>>>>> ’s prudent to regard doing A&AS – at least in an English
>>>>>> department -- as a
>>>>>> post-tenure luxury. The reasons for this situation are well worth
>>>>>> considering, but they are, unfortunately, among those things
>>>>>> in academe (and
>>>>> elsewhere)
>>>>>> currently filed under “mum’s the word”: not to be spoken of
>>>>>> out loud in
>>>>>> public, candor being potentially hazardous to one’s
>>>>>> professional health.
>>>>> For
>>>>>> the sake of younger scholars and of our field, I sincerely
>>>>>> hope I’ve gone a
>>>>>> little paranoid in these remarks, that I’ve bleakly overstated
>>>>>> the case. I
>>>>>> welcome contrary testimony.
>>>>>> John W. Crowley
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ____________________________________
>>>>>>
>>>>>> From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society
>>>>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]
>>>>>> (mailto:[log in to unmask]) ] On Behalf Of Michael Carolan
>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 9:37 AM
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>>>> Subject: Re: literary drinking
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As a new member of the forum (and, believe it or not, a former
>>>>>> student of
>>>>>> Professor Wedge’s), I appreciate all the recommendations of
>>>>>> creative work in
>>>>>> here. I wanted to share what a veteran professor had to say
>>>>>> about the field
>>>>> in
>>>>>> a professional recommendation he wrote for me recently after I
>>>>>> developed
>>>>>> addiction studies courses at UMass:
>>>>>> “Addiction is an area of study not unlike African American
>>>>>> studies or Native
>>>>>> American studies, and possibly all the more relevant not least
>>>>>> because it
>>>>>> not yet an established area of study.”
>>>>>> As I enter the severely shrunken academic job market, I am
>>>>>> left wondering
>>>>>> why all I see are openings for minority, third world, gay and
>>>>>> lesbian
>>>>> studies
>>>>>> but none for alcohol, mental illness, and/or addiction? Am I
>>>>>> missing
>>>>>> something?
>>>>>> With deep respect,
>>>>>> Michael Carolan
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
--
David M. Fahey
Professor of History
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45056
USA
|
