Description
Book SynopsisAgainst the backdrop of a post-Soviet state set aflame by geopolitical conflict and violent revolution, Narkomania considers whether substance use disorders are everywhere the same and whether our responses to drug use presuppose what kind of people those who use drugs really are. Jennifer J. Carroll''s ethnography is a story about public health and international efforts to quell the spread of HIV. Carroll focuses on Ukraine where the prevalence of HIV among people who use drugs is higher than in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and unpacks the arguments and myths surrounding medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in Ukraine. What she presents in Narkomania forces us to question drug policy, its uses, and its effects on normal citizens.
Carroll uses her findings to explore what people who use drugs can teach us about the contemporary societies emerging in post-Soviet space. With examples of how MAT has been politicized, how drug use has been tied to ideas of good citizen
Trade Review
Violence and war are inevitably entangled with public health crises. Jennifer Carroll's book vividly shows how those crises are made even worse when unfounded assumptions lead to the condemnation of certain groups
* Current History *
Carroll efficiently explores how the term addiction allows for all kinds of contradictory and composite meanings.
* The Lancet *
Jennifer Carroll has done a magistral job in helping the rest of us understand the global and local processes that have produced the current predicament of Ukrainian injecting drug users. The single most cautionary aspect of this book lies in its warning against the use of dismissive presence in society.
* Medical Anthropology Quarterly *
Narkomania is an important contribution to the field of medical anthropology, but the author's unique perspective and extensive fieldwork make it relevant across Ukrainian studies. Carroll creates a tapestry in which drug use and addiction are seamlessly interwoven with political changes that are resonant far beyond Ukraine's borders.
* Harvard Ukrainian Studies *
This book is a novel, poignant, and sincere contribution to anthropology and to Ukrainian studies. It will make a thought-provoking read for anyone researching or interested in contemporary Ukraine and its vulnerable population, including students, policymakers, and government employees.
* Anthropologica *
