Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic and Historical Study of Therapeutic Communities

该项目旨在了解历史和制度如何影响特定时间和地点对适当形式的治疗的理解。通过研究产生特定治疗方法的历史、政治和文化过程，该研究将促进对治疗方法历史产生的社会科学理解，特别是对成瘾行为的理解。研究的重点是治疗社区运动的兴起和传播。治疗社区是一种互助性社区，吸毒者和无家可归者被送去互相康复。在生物医学和制药方法更为普遍的美国，治疗社区不再常见，继续在世界其他地区蔓延。研究人员询问为什么会出现这种情况，以及对照顾者、接受照顾者和其他利益相关者的影响。这项研究将由哥伦比亚大学人类学博士研究员卡罗琳·帕克在波多黎各进行，由詹妮弗·赫希博士监督。波多黎各既是许多治疗社区的所在地，也是这些社区传播到其他国家的主要来源，这种形式的护理为该岛一些最脆弱的人群提供了至关重要的安全网。波多黎各的治疗社区通常是同侪运作的：该项目的毕业生作为治疗师、治疗领导者和主管履行基本的护理职责。研究人员将进行档案研究和口述历史访谈，以追踪波多黎各治疗社区的历史发展，从20世纪60年代初成立的单一国家项目到遍布全岛的150多个互助集体的分散网络。除了历史部分，她将在两个社区进行为期12个月的民族志田野调查，通过长期参与观察和深度访谈收集数据。最后，她将结合法律政策研究和关键线人访谈来检查产生和维持这些形式的护理的具体机构，国家实践和法律。

This project seeks to understand how history and institutions may affect the understanding of appropriate forms of therapy in specific times and places. By examining the historical, political, and cultural processes that give rise to particular therapies, the research will advance social scientific understanding of the historical production of therapeutics, particularly for addictive behaviors. The research is focused on the rise and spread of the therapeutic community movement. Therapeutic communities are mutual-aid communities where substance users and the homeless are sent to rehabilitate each other. No longer common in the United States, where bio-medical and pharmaceutical approaches are more common, therapeutic communities continue to spread in other parts of the world. The researcher asks why this is the case and what the effects are for caregivers, care receivers, and other stakeholders. The research will be carried out in Puerto Rico by Columbia University anthropology doctoral researcher, Caroline Parker, supervised by Dr. Jennifer Hirsch. In Puerto Rico, which is both home to many therapeutic communities and a key source of their spread to other countries, this form of care comprises a crucial safety net for some of the island's most vulnerable populations. Puerto Rican therapeutic communities are usually peer-operated: program graduates perform essential caregiving duties as therapists, treatment leaders, and directors. The researcher will undertake archival research and oral history interviews to trace the historical growth of Puerto Rico's therapeutic communities from a single state-run program founded in the early 1960s to a decentralized network of over 150 mutual-aid collectives operating across the island. In addition to the historical component, she will conduct twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in two of the communities, collecting data through long-term participant observation and in-depth interviews. Finally, she will combine legal-policy research and key informant interviews to examine the specific institutions, state practices and laws that produce and sustain these forms of care.