The War on Drugs: Labor, Law, Science and Culture [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | Mondays May 12-June 9 | 7:00-9:00 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
By the time the “War on Drugs” was declared in 1971 in the US, a rotating cast of intoxicants–from alcohol, to marijuana, to opium–had already been “enemy number one” for almost a century. It was not only substances that legislation targeted and controlled, but also the people who used them. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, “addict” emerged as an identity, along with cultural, legal, and scientific ideas about what that label implied. Unsurprisingly, these changes happened alongside changes in how we understood work, social welfare, and economic value from the Great Depression through the height of neoliberalism.
Together, we’ll consider how intoxicants, which have a long cross-cultural history of positive social uses, came to be considered a social problem. Who benefits from their medical management? Why are some intoxicating substances such as caffeine, sugar, and alcohol legal? How much of our understanding of substance use is tied to cultural values around labor and productivity? And how should we understand the massive incarceration expansion that resulted from the War on Drugs?
Over the course of five weeks, we’ll look at the history of drug legislation as well as medical and carceral intervention. We’ll investigate how and why “addiction” came under the auspices of both medicine and law. We’ll explore why the use and depiction of intoxicants has had such cultural allure for writers, artists, and the public. And we’ll study the emergence of “addiction” as the dominant model for explaining a wide range of behaviors and our relationship to things, from sex, love and money to shopping and social media. Readings and viewings will be wide-ranging and interdisciplinary as we press against dominant narratives to get to the heart of the matter.
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | Mondays May 12-June 9 | 7:00-9:00 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
By the time the “War on Drugs” was declared in 1971 in the US, a rotating cast of intoxicants–from alcohol, to marijuana, to opium–had already been “enemy number one” for almost a century. It was not only substances that legislation targeted and controlled, but also the people who used them. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, “addict” emerged as an identity, along with cultural, legal, and scientific ideas about what that label implied. Unsurprisingly, these changes happened alongside changes in how we understood work, social welfare, and economic value from the Great Depression through the height of neoliberalism.
Together, we’ll consider how intoxicants, which have a long cross-cultural history of positive social uses, came to be considered a social problem. Who benefits from their medical management? Why are some intoxicating substances such as caffeine, sugar, and alcohol legal? How much of our understanding of substance use is tied to cultural values around labor and productivity? And how should we understand the massive incarceration expansion that resulted from the War on Drugs?
Over the course of five weeks, we’ll look at the history of drug legislation as well as medical and carceral intervention. We’ll investigate how and why “addiction” came under the auspices of both medicine and law. We’ll explore why the use and depiction of intoxicants has had such cultural allure for writers, artists, and the public. And we’ll study the emergence of “addiction” as the dominant model for explaining a wide range of behaviors and our relationship to things, from sex, love and money to shopping and social media. Readings and viewings will be wide-ranging and interdisciplinary as we press against dominant narratives to get to the heart of the matter.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | Mondays May 12-June 9 | 7:00-9:00 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
By the time the “War on Drugs” was declared in 1971 in the US, a rotating cast of intoxicants–from alcohol, to marijuana, to opium–had already been “enemy number one” for almost a century. It was not only substances that legislation targeted and controlled, but also the people who used them. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, “addict” emerged as an identity, along with cultural, legal, and scientific ideas about what that label implied. Unsurprisingly, these changes happened alongside changes in how we understood work, social welfare, and economic value from the Great Depression through the height of neoliberalism.
Together, we’ll consider how intoxicants, which have a long cross-cultural history of positive social uses, came to be considered a social problem. Who benefits from their medical management? Why are some intoxicating substances such as caffeine, sugar, and alcohol legal? How much of our understanding of substance use is tied to cultural values around labor and productivity? And how should we understand the massive incarceration expansion that resulted from the War on Drugs?
Over the course of five weeks, we’ll look at the history of drug legislation as well as medical and carceral intervention. We’ll investigate how and why “addiction” came under the auspices of both medicine and law. We’ll explore why the use and depiction of intoxicants has had such cultural allure for writers, artists, and the public. And we’ll study the emergence of “addiction” as the dominant model for explaining a wide range of behaviors and our relationship to things, from sex, love and money to shopping and social media. Readings and viewings will be wide-ranging and interdisciplinary as we press against dominant narratives to get to the heart of the matter.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.