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对特定时间和地点的适当治疗形式的理解。通过研究产生特定疗法的历史、政治和文化过程，这项研究将推进对疗法历史成果的社会科学理解，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。治疗社区是一个互助社区，吸毒者和无家可归者被派去互相帮助康复。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，而是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，以及对护理人员、护理接受者和其他利益相关者的影响。 这项研究将在波多黎各进行，由哥伦比亚大学人类学博士研究员卡罗琳帕克，由詹妮弗赫希博士监督。在波多黎各，许多治疗社区都在这里，而且也是这些治疗传播到其他国家的一个重要来源，这种形式的护理为岛上一些最脆弱的人口提供了一个至关重要的安全网。波多黎各的治疗社区通常是同行经营：程序毕业生履行基本职责作为治疗师，治疗领导者和董事。研究人员将进行档案研究和口述历史访谈，以追溯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营计划到全岛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个月的民族志实地考察，通过长期参与观察和深入访谈收集数据。最后，她将结合联合收割机的法律政策研究和关键的线人采访，以检查特定的机构，国家的做法和法律，生产和维持这些形式的照顾。

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.