Category Archives: News

The theme that stuck out most to me in this reading, that has recurred in the ethnographies we have read time and time again, is the connection between people and the physical space that they occupy. The loss of control … Continue reading →

When discussing the conquista and colonialism as a whole, we tend to imagine these concepts as historical artifacts—as happenings of the past that are in indeed still impacting the present and that will continue the affect the future. However, I … Continue reading →

I personally enjoyed how Ana-Maurine drew audiences in by forcing them to reconsider their understanding of terms that seem so common and accessible to some demographics – words like “gender,” “race,” or “freedom”. What does it mean to have sovereignty … Continue reading →

In her book, Ana-Maurine Lara argues that being Black and queer challenges Christian colonial hermeticism and paves the way for values, knowledge, and being that never cease to exist despite the colonial order’s attempts to marginalize, deny, and eradicate. The dominating theme throughout the … Continue reading →

I like how the author opens up the writing giving a detailed picture of the setting. Especially with there being such a big problem with addiction, I feel like accounts that humanize addicts and make others realize how difficult addiction … Continue reading →

This ethnography was heartbreaking and enlightening. I really liked the opening framing about the river, drawing the parallels about how heroin touches all parts of life in this part of New Mexico. On page 12, Garcia describes the “internalization of … Continue reading →

In Angela Garcia’s The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the RIo Grande, the author tells us about the unsettling grip that heroin holds specifically within a hispanic community region along the Rio Grande. What I found particularly interesting is … Continue reading →

I really enjoyed this week’s reading and found it very intriguing – I was captivated immediately and found it easy to get through the reading quickly while still absorbing all of the information. Garcia spends years doing field work in … Continue reading →

Immediately, along with the other ethnographic texts we have read, The Pastoral Clinic caught my attention because of the ways Garcia interacts with her ethnographic methods. Through elaborating on particular narratives within her fieldwork, Garcia engages her arguments with the emic perspective … Continue reading →

In Chapter 5 we are introduced to Adela, a former midwife turned “home detox” provider. This reminded me of our week 8 reading on the state of midwifery in Mexico. The healthcare inequities plaguing midwifery in rural Mexico are also … Continue reading →

After reading Garcia’s ethnography, I’m most interested in her pastoral framework and how it contextualizes heroin use in New Mexico’s Española Valley. Rather than using an isolationist approach that confines personal histories of addiction to an individual’s psychology, the pastoral … Continue reading →

I actually had the pleasure of reading this book for the second time for this class; the first being in a medical anthropology course during my junior year. I compared my notes from both times and found that themes of … Continue reading →

I think the theme that struck me the most was the concept of a patient-prisoner. Garcia states: “Addicts assigned to the drug court system are dually and contradictorily marked; the addict/offender is patient and prisoner. The patient-prisoner experiences the weight … Continue reading →

I personally enjoyed Garcia’s close and personalized ethnography of those in her community and their experiences with drugs – how it affects their lives, what it does to them on a physical and emotional level, and how it intertwines with … Continue reading →

Dr. Garcia’s Pastoral Clinic is a fascinating ethnography surrounding the lives of those who are recovering addicts across different but interconnected fields. “From the clinic to the courthouse,” Dr. Garcia argues that the singularness of of release and rehabilitation is … Continue reading →

The extent of Garcia involvement in her site work truly reflects through her vivid descriptions and makes her writing arguably more emotional than the previous pieces we read. I was personally stuck by the opening story in Chapter 5, which revolved … Continue reading →