Addiction and Actants: the Autonomy Possible in Assemblages more

What would an assemblage theory of addiction tell us about the process of becoming an addict and in what ways would it inform our understanding of recovering from addiction? That process through which one develops problematic use of methamphetamine may also be that which leads to the cessation of methamphetamine use. Based on an ethnographic study of methamphetamine use in suburban Atlanta, I suggest that the interdependencies which form as methamphetamine users pursue opportunities: to practice their methamphetamine use, to disclose the consequences of their practices, and to display recovering identities, illustrate a fundamentally relational character to methamphetamine use. In this paper I explore what Jane Bennett's concept of thing-power, an effervescence of capacity realized across a range of human and non-human actors, can do for developing responses to the myriad effects associated with sustained problematic use and manufacturing of methamphetamine.

*The project described was funded by NIDA Award Number 1R15DA021164-01A1 and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health, Kennesaw State University nor the European Graduate School.