Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy: To be Confident, Attractive and Happy: Ethnographies of Drug Use Among Urban Youths in Asia
Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the International
Journal of Drug
Policy: To be Confident, Attractive and Happy:
Ethnographies of Drug Use Among Urban Youths in Asia
Guest editors: Anita Hardon and David Hymans
We seek contributions that present ethnographic insights
on how urban youths in Asia use a broad range of illicit narcotics as well as
(off-label) pharmaceuticals and cosmetic chemicals to
achieve their desired mental and bodily states in daily life. Our premise is
that to understand drug use (thus broadly construed) among youths, we need to
examine the purposes for which drugs are used
in their own terms.
We are especially interested in contributions that give
central importance to the social relations surrounding drug use, including how
knowledge of specific substances travels through youth networks, the internet,
the creative marketing of novel drugs, and from the prescribing practices of
medical professionals. Ethnographic questions to be addressed in the papers
include: Why do youths turn to drugs? What effects are they seeking? What role
do drugs play in calming their fears, in achieving their dreams and
aspirations, in shaping their bodies? Which drugs do they use on a daily basis?
Where and in what social context? Which drugs or combinations of drugs do
youths experiment with? What desired or adverse effects do they experience?
What (if any) social transformations ensue through their use? How are the drugs
administered? Are they mixed with other substances? Where do youths get information
on (new) drugs, and on their (adverse) effects? How is chemical use related to
their working lives? How are drug-use practices embedded in and conditioned by
ever-changing urban youth cultures, local drug markets, health care
institutions and policies, and by state and police interventions that constrain
availability and use in various ways?
Abstracts (not to exceed 350 words) are invited for
contributions to this forthcoming special issue of the International Journal of
Drug Policy (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-drug-policy).
We invite three types of contributions (3,000-6,000
words):
Research papers: based on original ethnographic research
conducted in Asia.
Methods papers: presenting innovations in ethnographic
methods to study drug use among youths (such as visual and virtual
ethnography).
Analyses of youth drug use policies and programs in Asia:
a critical review of policies and programs that aim to change drug use
practices among youth in order to reduce harm and protect their health. We
welcome both contemporary and historical analyses.
Abstracts should be emailed to m.derooij@uva.nl and a.p.hardon@uva.nl by December 31, 2012. The
email subject heading should read IJDP Special Issue. The editors will inform
authors by January 16, 2013 whether to proceed to full submission. If selected,
complete manuscripts will be due by April 3, 2013. All manuscripts are subject
to the normal IJDP peer review process. The special issue will be published in
the fall of 2013.