Research paper
Effects of transnational migration on drug use: An ethnographic study of Nepali female heroin users in Hong Kong

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.06.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • An 18-month ethnography has been carried out in a Nepali community in Hong Kong to study the female Nepali heroin users.

  • They are active power negotiators in the drug scene, yet their agency is also constrained by culture and history.

  • Their active/passive role is largely dependent on the opportunities and constraints embedded in transnational migration.

  • Findings are consistent with the concept of post-structuralism in gender and transnationalism theories.

  • Transnationalism is an important perspective to study the situation of female drug users in a globalized context.

Abstract

Background

Past studies of female drug users in South Asia tend to focus on their plights, for instance, how they have been driven to drug use and encounter more problems than their male counterparts, such as HIV/AIDS and sexual abuse. Few studies focus on their active role – how they actively make use of resources in the external environment to construct their desired femininity through drug consumption. Furthermore, little is known about the situation of female South Asian drug users who are living overseas. This paper is a study of transnational migration, drug use and gender – how transnational migration influences the drug use of female transnational migrants.

Methods

An 18-month ethnography has been carried out in a Nepali community in Hong Kong and 13 informants were interviewed. Data were coded and analyzed by using the grounded-theory approach. Themes related to the drug use of the female Nepali heroin users were identified.

Results

The findings show that there are three important themes that significantly affect the drug use of female Nepali heroin users, which include (1) their relationships with intimate partners, (2) their means of support, and (3) their legal status in migration.

Conclusions

The findings are consistent with the concept of post-structuralism in gender and transnationalism theories. Female Nepali heroin users in Hong Kong are neither active agents nor passive victims; their active/passive role is largely dependent on their reconfigured opportunities and constraints in transnational migration. Thus, transnationalism should be taken as an important perspective to study the situation of female drug users in a globalized context.

Introduction

Linked with the British colonial history in Hong Kong, 63,176 South Asians are residing in Hong Kong according to the 2011 census, which constitutes 0.89% of the population. Among them, a total of 16,518 are Nepalis. Thousands had served in the Gurkha army. After retirement, they brought their family to Hong Kong. According to the Narcotics Division, there were 319 Nepali drug users in Hong Kong in 2012, the largest number among non-Chinese drug users. A survey showed that most are heroin users and descendants of ex-Gurkha soldiers; a small number are women (Tam & Tang, 2011). The situation of South Asian female drug users is rarely studied in drug use studies. They are either ignored due to their small number (Sinha, 2008) or portrayed as victims. For instance, studies that compared the characteristics of male and female South Asian drug users found that the prevalence of drug use among males is higher than that of females, but female drug users are more likely to suffer more from drug-related diseases, sexual abuse, and HIV/AIDS (e.g. Bal et al., 2010, Desphande and Nagpal, 1993, Jhingan et al., 2003, Praveen et al., 2012, Shah et al., 2004, Sharma and Khandelwal, 2000). This pattern is consistent with the pattern of the earliest drug use studies in other places (Neale, Nettleton, & Pickering, 2014).

While the earliest drug use studies focused on the plights of female drug users, a new post-structuralist gender theory emerged and challenged this early approach. This new theory emphasizes that gender relations are not a fixed system, but open to changes as there are different forms of masculinities and femininities (e.g. hegemonic and subordinate) in a society (Connell, 1987). Therefore, many of the drug use studies that subsequently emerged have shifted their focus and shown that female drug users are not necessarily a homogenous group subject to a single oppressive force (Measham, 2002). Instead, gender interplays with other social variables, such as marital status, class and ethnicity, and induces different drug use experiences for different groups of female drug users (Neale, 2004). Accordingly, evidence shows that the experiences of female drug users are not necessarily significantly different from those of male drug users (e.g. EMCDDA, 2005, EMCDDA, 2006, Forsythe and Adams, 2009, Stolberg, 2009). Furthermore, some studies have shown that female drug users are assertive and autonomous individuals who are able to find fault lines within or between external forces to creatively construct their desirable femininity. Their drug consumption is less stigmatizing and possibly compatible with their everyday life, for instance, their roles as a mother in a family and member in a drug-using community (Hunt et al., 2005, Measham, 2002).

Studies of female drug users which are consistent with the post-structuralist approach are usually found in the context of North America, Europe and Australia. Comparatively, studies of South Asian female drug users tend to overlook the complex dynamics between gender and other socio-cultural factors. In fact, except for drug studies, much of the literature on South Asian women has shown this complex interaction. For instance, low-caste women in Nepal are found to be resilient in both public and private domains as they are good at utilizing resources in the external environment, like revival of traditions or grasping new economic opportunities in modernization, to exert their resistance (Ahearn, 2001, Cameron, 1995, Holland and Skinner, 1995, Jones and Jones, 1976). These dynamics are not only found in the local population, but also migrants overseas. In transnational migration, opportunities and constraints are reconfigured; identities become more fluid and contingent (Appadurai, 1990, Hannerz, 1989). Depending on the socio-economic status of the female migrants in the home country and host society, type of migration (e.g. marriage, family or forced migration, or migration for work) and legality of migration, individuals would experience different extents of (dis)empowerment in the migration process (Gaetano, 2008, Ghosh, 2009, Hilsdon and Giridharan, 2008, Kitiarsa, 2008, Walsh et al., 2008). Yet, much of the literature on South Asian migration, particularly on the Nepalis, focuses on male migrants (e.g. Frost, 2004, Uesugi, 2007) or the migrant population as a whole without differentiating gendered differences (e.g. Bohra-Mishra, 2011, Nath, 2006, Pariyar, 2011, Yamanaka, 2000, Yamanaka, 2005). Until now, no ethnographic research has explored the interplay between gender, transnational migration, and drug use of South Asian women. By drawing on the concept of post-structuralism in gender and transnationalism theories, this paper investigates the drug use of South Asian women who are living overseas; that is, an analysis that emphasizes the flexibility of gender identity and reconfiguration of opportunities and constraints in migration in relation to the drug use of female drug users.

Section snippets

Methods

The data in this research are derived from 18 months of ethnographic research in a Nepali drug-using community in Hong Kong between 2010 and 2011. The data collection included two stages: (1) semi-structured interviews in the first stage, and (2) participant observations in the second stage. With the help of the Beat Drugs Fund of the Hong Kong Narcotics Division and The Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abuses (SARDA), I met three female Nepali heroin users at a methadone clinic

Drug use pattern

Heroin No. 4 is the most popular drug in Hong Kong. Yet, there is an indicative trend which suggests that fewer people are using heroin and more are using psychoactive drugs, such as Ketamine and ecstasy. However, this trend does not apply to Nepali drug users in Hong Kong. Heroin No. 4 remains their preferred drug (Tam & Tang, 2011). The majority of my informants (n = 13) used cannabis in their first drug-taking experience in Nepal (84.6%). After migrating to Hong Kong, they usually tried

Relationships with intimate partners

At the time of the interviews, more than half of my informants said that they were in a relationship and their partners were also heroin users. Many of them claimed that this partner played a significant role in their drug use, for instance, initiating, maintaining and escalating their drug use. None of them indicated that they were unhappy with the relationship. Physical violence sometimes occurred, but it was not a factor in ending the relationship. Sita was a 30-year-old heroin user who

Discussion

This research has a number of limitations. First, the data are qualitative and based on a small sample, therefore causing difficulty in assessing statistical differences among the female Nepali heroin users or drawing generalizations from the findings. Secondly, all of the informants were recruited by snowball sampling and ethnography was mainly carried out in one of the Nepali communities in Hong Kong. The findings, limited by the social network and geographic location of my informants, are

Conclusion

In this article, I have used interviews and ethnographic methods to explore the effects of transnational migration on the drug use of female Nepali migrants in Hong Kong. The findings show that female Nepali heroin users in Hong Kong are not a homogenous group of victims. Depending on their socio-economic status, for example, their relationships with their intimate partners, economic means of support, and legal status in migration, they might have diverse everyday experiences and vastly

Conflict of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Acknowledgements

This study was completed with the support of The Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abuses (SARDA) and Beat Drugs Fund (BDF), Narcotics Division in Hong Kong. I gratefully acknowledge the support from them.

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