Culture, and Power Altered States

SS 272 Altered States This interdisciplinary course examines the political economy of mind-altering drugs, both legal and illegal, with an emphasis on the relationship between these drugs and the individual body, the social body, and the body politic. We will focus on questions relating to the political economy of coca production in South America, traditional uses of mind-altering substances, motivations behind the development and global marketing of both psycho-pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs, the role of U.S. foreign policy in relation to the illegal drug economy, currently popular ideas about child development and psychological normalcy, the demographics of legal and illegal drug use, and historical shifts in the legal/illegal distinction itself.