Addiction, Modernity, and the City

Examining the interdependent nature of substance, space, and subjectivity, this book constitutes an interdisciplinary analysis of the intoxication indigenous to what has been termed &quote;our narcotic modernity.&quote; The first section - Drug/Culture - demonstrates how the body of the addict and the social body of the city are both inscribed by &quote;controlled&quote; substance. Positing addiction as a &quote;pathology (out) of place&quote; that is specific to the (late-)capitalist urban landscape, the second section - Dope/Sick - conducts a critique of the prevailing pathology paradigm of addiction, proposing in its place a theoretical reconceptualization of drug dependence in the terms of &quote;p/re/in-scription.&quote; Remapping the successive stages or phases of our narcotic modernity, the third section - Narco/State - delineates three primary eras of narcotic modernity, including the contemporary city of &quote;safe&quote;/&quote;supervised&quote; consumption. Employing an experimental, &quote;intra-textual&quote; format, the fourth section - Brain/Disease - mimics the sense, state or scape of intoxication accompanying each permutation of narcotic modernity in the interchangeable terms of drug, dream and/or disease. Tracing the parallel evolution of &quote;addiction,&quote; the (late-)capitalist cityscape, and the pathological project of modernity, the four parts of this book thus together constitute a users' guide to urban space.