Philippe Bourgois: In Search of Respect. Selling Crack in El Barrio

“I am going to break this logic of fear!”: Activism and subversive care at the periphery of Fortaleza, Brazil

“…Trust is inherent in the practice of (subversive) care. The question of respect in relation to drug gangs has long been a topic of analysis in anthropology and other social sciences (Anderson, 1999; Bourgois, 2003; Vigil, 2003). In Elijah Anderson's ethnography of an American inner city, he defines respect as “an external entity, one that is hard‐won but easily lost—and so must constantly be guarded” (1999, 33).…”

Land for dignity and struggle for identity: Landlordism and caste in a village of south India

“…A growing literature examines the centrality of the “co‐constitution of caste and class relations” for the spread of contemporary capitalism in India, “entrenching Dalits at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchies” (Lerche & Shah, 2018). However, there could be competing explanations for the existence of “conjugated oppression,” a simultaneous operation of class exploitation and ethnic discrimination that interact explosively to produce an “experience of oppression more than the sum of its parts” (Bourgois, 1995, 72 as cited in Lerche & Shah, 2018) Two sets of literature offer distinct conceptual apparatuses to understand this conjoined exploitation: bondage and labour relations and caste and political subjugation. One set of literature conceptually places it in land relations and village society, while the other focus more on the impact of processes of urban informal economy on caste.…”

The Governance of Female Drug Users

“…In a more recent strand of discourse on women's illicit drug use, female lawbreakers have been constructed as emancipated women, active, rational agents, maximising criminal opportunities (see, for example, Bourgois, 1989Bourgois, , 1995Baskin et al, 1993;Bourgois and Dunlap, 1993;Wilson, 1993;Fagan, 1994Fagan, , 1995Mieczkowski, 1994). They are constituted as members of a new generation of women who are shedding their traditional constraints and limited roles as housewives and mothers, and demanding equality in the public sphere.…”

“…There are two main explanations for the 'emancipation' of female lawbreakers. The first asserts that the emancipation of women in the wider society has somehow filtered on to the streets and had an impact on women as crack users and drug market participants (see, for example, Bourgois, 1989Bourgois, , 1995Bourgois and Dunlap, 1993;Wilson, 1993). The second argues that the expansion of the drug economy and shifts in the structure of drug markets have led to increased opportunities for women (see, for example, Baskin et al, 1993;Fagan, 1994Fagan, , 1995Mieczkowski, 1994).…”