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Philippe I. Bourgois
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Righteous Dopefiend: 21 Paperback – 29 May 2009

by Philippe Bourgois (Author), Jeffrey Schonberg (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 235 ratings
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This powerful work of gonzo journalism, predating the widespread acknowledgement of the opioid epidemic as such, immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug and alcohol abuse 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 in the San Francisco drug scene, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income through burglary, larceny, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. Righteous Dopefiend interweaves stunning black-and-white photography with vivid dialogue, oral biography, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis to viscerally illustrate the life of a drug addict. Its gripping narrative develops a cast of characters around the themes of violence, racism and race relations, sexuality, trauma, embodied suffering, social inequality, and power relations. The result is a dispassionate chronicle of fixes and overdoses; of survival, loss, caring, and hope rooted in the drug abusers’ determination to hang on for one more day, through a "moral economy of sharing" that precariously balances mutual solidarity and interpersonal betrayal.
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  1. Part of series
    California Series in Public Anthropology
  2. Print length
    392 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    *University of California Press
  5. Publication date
    29 May 2009
  6. Dimensions
    17.78 x 2.29 x 24.13 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0520254988
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0520254985
  9. See all details
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"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 "Recommended." Choice "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." -- Elijah Anderson, author of Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community. Philadelphia Inquirer "Truly remarkable book." -- Grazyna Zajdow Arena Magazine "Powerfully candid." Zocalo (The Public Square Blog) "With a combination of photographs, dialogue, field notes and critical theory, the book provides a detailed analysis of the social structure of an underground society in contemporary America." Roof Magazine "This book offers as complete and disturbing a view as can be had of just how awful and intractable street life in San Francisco can get." San Francisco Chronicle

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ *University of California Press; 1st edition (29 May 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520254988
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520254985
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.78 x 2.29 x 24.13 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 235 ratings

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Philippe I. Bourgois

Philippe I. Bourgois

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Pat Hannigan
5.0 out of 5 stars My Favourite Read Of All Time
Reviewed in Canada on 25 May 2023
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A must read
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Vixx
4.0 out of 5 stars An intelligent, sad book
Reviewed in France on 29 April 2021
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I bought this book after reading "In search of respect" and was not disappointed. Maybe it was less informative or rather, differently informative - "In search of respect" had a heavier take on history and theory, while this book provides some but insists even more on the lives of the addicts, which of course is very informative in a different way... It's "easier to read", and even more heartbreaking,.
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Salimata
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, from the intro to the end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 June 2014
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Very well thought out & designed piece of qualatative research, you feel like your actually there plus the photos add so much more. Great writing
One person found this helpful
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Ashraf
5.0 out of 5 stars Rigteous Dopefeind
Reviewed in the United States on 23 November 2009
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The review of Wacquant was very true when he said if Bourdieu,Orwell and Walker Evans had met in a homeless encampment in San Francisco Highway,they could not have produced a more penetrating portrait of America's urban outcast than 'Righteous Dopefiend'. This book is a very important contribution from Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg theoretically,methodologically and the use of applied public anthropology.
Methodologically,the use of collaborative photo-ethnography is a strategic choice by the authors to expose the distress of the socially vulnerable who remain invisible to the larger society.As the authors argue that photo-ethnography has the potential to effectively portray unacceptable social phenomena because it draws aesthetics ,emotion and documentation into the social science analysis and theory and tries to link intellect with politics but at the same time it is important to remain critically reflexive because as post modern theory inform us that social truth is an artifact of power and our categorization and conception of reality are historical constructs and therefore, as representational practices both photography and ethnography are torn between representing and humanizing and thus there can not be any transcendental solution or reality.But as far as this photo-ethnography is concerned ,they were successful in portraying the immediate environment of the homeless people and at the same time humanizing the 'subjects' who almost always loses them selves in the written ethnographies. The photos,interview's text and analysis complement each other in the representation of the lives of homeless addicts.
The conventional theoretical academic binary distinction between structure and agency is more of a ideological debate which does not offer any significant insight into complex historical and contemporary outcomes.The concept of 'lumpen abuse' sets the theorization of abuse of individual experience of suffering in the context of structural forces .As the authors points out explicitly that the suffering of homeless heroine injectors is chronic and cumulative phenomena that can be best understood as a politically structured phenomena.The combination of Marx's class theory,Bourdieu's symbolic violence and Foucault's concept of power have contributed to the building of the concept of 'lumpen abuse'.Lumpen abuse highlights the way structurally imposed everyday suffering generates violent and destructive subjectivities.The corporate neoliberalism as a dominant mode of production is producing growing numbers of lumpenized populations.The biopower governamentality have been internalized by the citizens but the violent coercion increasingly characterize neoliberal forms of governmentality and therefore,the term lumpen' can best be understood as adjective rather than as a bounded class category.
The linkage of theory and practice is an imperative for anthropologist who studies people in extreme distress to operate at policy level and specific local level intervention.But applied work is never political rather policy debates become the part of the problem by shifting political issues into a technocratic register.The authors emphasize the need for humility and self-reflection when building theory to inform urgent public debates.At the immediate policy level the authors suggest that simple prescription can lessen the suffering of the addicts.The availability of good enough treatment combined with harm reduction and strategic support after detox is an important steps in lessing the suffering of the homeless heroine injectors and reintegrating them in the community. These immediate intervention can help to certain extent but can not overturn the structural violence of the globalized Neoliberalism
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5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 December 2016
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A good book for someone wanting to know a bit about addicts.
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