Transforming Harm: The Crises of Opioids, Conjunctural Politics, and Struggles for Care in Southern Appalachia

Author

Kyra A. Martinez, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleFollow

Date of Award

5-2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Sociology

Major Professor

Michelle Brown

Committee Members

Tyler Wall, Christina Ergas, Travis Linnemann

Abstract

The impact of the current opioid crisis on Southern Appalachia has catalyzed shifts towards public health-based harm reduction in the United States (US) regime of criminalized drug prohibition. Engaging a vital issue of debate—whether or not these shifts are significantly altering the "war on drugs"—my dissertation uses a conjunctural perspective to examine how the state is mobilizing harm reduction to violently reconfigure and resolve the structural contradictions condensed within the opioid crisis under a pretense of care. By locating present struggles over harm reduction in Southern Appalachia within longer movements, moments, and histories of mutual aid organizing, I identify key sites of potential rupture from which to point towards abolitionist alternatives.

Recommended Citation

Martinez, Kyra A., "Transforming Harm: The Crises of Opioids, Conjunctural Politics, and Struggles for Care in Southern Appalachia. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2023.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/8099