Philippe Bourgois (jan 1, 1956 – 11h 26min, nov 9, 2024 y)

Description:

ABOUT
- American, PhD at Stanford, and has taught at Harvard, San Francisco State, and U of Penn
- did fieldwork in Costa Rica among banana plantation farmers, then with drug dealers in NYC and homeless drug addicts in San Francisco
- influenced by neo-Marxist anthropology and the theories of Foucault and Bordieu
- known for his ethnographic immersion and focus on urban inequality

MAJOR WORKS
- In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (1995)
- Righteous Dopefiend (2009)

CONTRIBUTIONS
- structural violence and social inequality
- humanizing marginalized and/or "Deviant" populations
- ethnographic advocacy and critical public health

CRITIQUES
- representation of marginalized communities of drug dealers, addicts, and homeless individuals might inadvertently reinforce negative stereotypes
- ethical responsibilities: long-term immersion in these communities risks normalizing self-destructive behaviors or exploiting participants' suffering for academic purposes
- focus on structural violence and systemic inequality may downplay the role of individual agency and resilience, and instead portray marginalized people as victims

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