CommentarySituating the syringe
Section snippets
Social science with the syringe
Addressing the policy, practice and evaluation of harm reduction as involving a paradigm shift in situating the syringe in the world of the drug user, and social scientists as the experts in examining this relationship, I envisaged research on drug injecting differently. Examining why scientific studies on needle exchange had not sufficiently engaged the risk practice of sharing, and the difficulties associated with both qualitative and quantitative methods in producing knowledge of syringe
Building rapports with injecting drug users
In order for researchers to produce situated knowledge, that anticipates, situates and involves those who are addressed, Stengers calls for the production of ‘rapports’ (2011, p. 62). Concurring with Donna Haraway, Stengers describes the creation of a rapport as always ‘a local, precarious event’ (2011, p. 62). Without the creation of a rapport Stengers argues there is no knowledge (2011, p. 62). What interests Stengers are the questions raised by the rapport. These questions, she insists ‘are
Reclaiming harm reduction research
The challenge of learning from others, using Stengers politics of ontology, is to create an encountering where the researcher and drug users ‘regard each other as equals’ and encountered others are ‘empowered to evaluate the relevance of your interest, to agree or refuse to answer, and even to spit in your human, too human face’ (2011, p. 63). The power of the encounter argues Stengers lies in its capacity not to foster a politics of tolerance towards the other but ‘giving to the world the
The syringe as a tool for thinking
Focusing on drug users knowledge, we were confronted with the relevance of the object of the syringe for social scientific research. Experimenting with the syringe as a tool for thinking with made it possible to re-assess how drug policy, drugs research and drug users have been constructed, analysed and evaluated by academic experts. Learning from the situation of injecting, I showed how drug users objected to, undermined and challenged the assumptions, biases, blind spots and beliefs of
Another science of drugs research
If social scientists, drugs researchers, policy makers and analysts are to take seriously the provocations and propositions of Social Science of the Syringe how might we continue to engage in a politics of public research on drug use? The recent focus on researching, analysing and critiquing the multiple ways drug policy and drugs research construct, constitute and represent drug problems and the problem of drugs marks a significant shift towards addressing the controversies surrounding illicit
Conflict of interest
I confirm I have no conflict of interest.
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