Righteous Dopefiend:公共人类学摄影民族志

Righteous Dopefiend: A Photographic Ethnography from the Perspective of Public Anthropology

Righteous Dopefiend是一本对海洛因成瘾的流浪汉群体进行研究的公共人类学摄影民族志代表作,作者Philippe Bourgois和Jeff Schonberg历经12年,来展现和描绘城市边缘中人们“视而不见”但却有感情、讲义气的流浪汉群体,立体而鲜活的呈现他们的苦难和挣扎。本文从民族志研究和抱团取暖的群体,“灰色地带”中的摄影民族志、个人生命历程的书写等方面对本书进行评述。

Righteous Dopefiend is a representative work of public anthropological photographic ethnography describing homeless heroin addicts.Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg have spent 12 years(19942006)displaying the lives of homeless drug addicts on the streets in San Francisco.Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg choose Edgewater Boulevard and its surrounding areas as their main fieldwork site,focusing on vagrant heroin and crack users'everyday street lives.They were able to build relationships with these addicts and from there witness firsthand their street smarts,love stories,family affairs,friendships,childhoods,hardships,ethnic problems,and so on.Anecdotes of homeless drug addicts reveal their true feelings,such as excitement,depression,and worry.Homeless heroin addicts are hopeless and problematic cases,as far as the government is concerned;however,Bourgois and Schonberg suggest that lack of healthcare services,sociocultural stigma,and racial profiling by law enforcement are the main reasons for the increasing number of addicted street people.Bourgois centers the book on power relations and related theoretical analysis,while mainly describing the life stories of 20 homeless drug addicts.First of all,Bourgois believed that the heroin addicts in Edgewater Boulevard had formed their own“society”,outside the mainstream,which means their community was isolated and enclosed.As a consequence,the norms and values of conventional society had little impact on this isolated group.Instead,they needed their own set of rules and agreements appropriate for street life. In addition to this, their “society” also followed their particular moral economy. According to the moral economy-although they are of different ethnicities, identities, and ages-what they have in common is that they are unable to integrate into mainstream society, which forces them to adjust to this new group with its system of perceived fair exchanges and proper identity. This book gives us a deeper understanding of the issues of health, drug abuse, social structure, and justice in this homeless society. The narcotic problem is not only personal and social but also broadranging. At the same time, we should not stigmatize drug addicts as dangerous people, instead, their voices should be heard. When we will have to deal with the substance abuse problem in the future, we need to pay attention to both individual and social factors. Through this ethnographic study, we should recognize the importance of ethnographic research methods. Narratives can provide readers with a better understanding of vagrant addicts and also correct any defamed impressions. In this case, we can help addicted street people more and better care for them-instead of blaming them-so as to make their lives better. It can be said that when facing the public problem of homeless heroin users, Bourgois hoped to find a balance between on the one hand social institutions and patterns and on the other individual activities. In other words, it is difficult to change the living conditions of these people, but efforts of public anthropology can make the public rethink drug policy and programs.