The intoxicated poor: alcohol, morality and power among the boatmen of Banaras

Doron, Assa

doi:10.1080/19472491003593035

Cited by 20 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Besides individual risk factors for AUD (e.g., male gender, lower education level, unemployment), there are critical contextual forces such as availability of alcohol, alcohol advertising, policies related to alcohol availability, and norms around drinking, that shape drinking behaviours (Gruenewald et al, 1993 ; Alaniz, 1998 ; Borsari and Carey, 2001 ; Gruenewald et al, 2002 ). Hence, bridging the treatment gap will require making strategic choices about evidence-based treatments after suitable adaptation to suit the context, and special attention being paid to local patterns of drinking and its intersection with cultural influences (e.g., boatmen of Benares in India, while averse to any public displays of drunkenness on the sacred ghats recognise alcohol as a legitimate source of relaxation [Doron, 2010 ]), and existing health systems. This requires a detailed landscaping of the context and this could be achieved through a situational analysis involving key stakeholders who will be able to provide critical information about which interventions will be acceptable, and also on implications for delivery.…”

Section: Innovations To Improve Access To Care For Auds In Lmicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closing the treatment gap for alcohol use disorders in low- and middle-income countries

Nadkarni

Gandhi

Bhatia

et al. 2022

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The alcohol-attributable disease burden is greater in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as compared to high-income countries. Despite the effectiveness of interventions such as health promotion and education, brief interventions, psychological treatments, family-focused interventions, and biomedical treatments, access to evidence-based care for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in LMICs is limited. This can be explained by poor access to general health and mental health care, limited availability of relevant clinical skills among health care providers, lack of political will and/or financial resources, historical stigma and discrimination against people with AUDs, and poor planning and implementation of policies. Access to care for AUDs in LMICs could be improved through evidence-based strategies such as designing innovative, local and culturally acceptable solutions, health system strengthening by adopting a collaborative stepped care approach, horizontal integration of care into existing models of care (e.g., HIV care), task sharing to optimise limited human resources, working with families of individuals with AUD, and leveraging technology-enabled interventions. Moving ahead, research, policy and practice in LMICs need to focus on evidence-based decision-making, responsiveness to context and culture, working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders to design and implement interventions, identifying upstream social determinants of AUDs, developing and evaluating policy interventions such as increased taxation on alcohol, and developing services for special populations (e.g., adolescents) with AUDs.

show abstract

Section: Innovations To Improve Access To Care For Auds In Lmicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closing the treatment gap for alcohol use disorders in low- and middle-income countries

Nadkarni

Gandhi

Bhatia

et al. 2022

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In some ways, it reproduces these social differences. And this is all the more true because alcohol consumption is sometimes associated with criminality and seen as a pathology characterizing low castes and impoverished populations, while it is acceptable for the upper social fringes (Doron 2011).…”

Section: The Rebirth Of Partysmartmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hangover free! The social and material trajectories of PartySmart

Pordié¹

2015

Anthropology & Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents three embedded episodes in the life of a polyherbal drug indicated as a preventative measure for hangovers. Invented and marketed in 2005 by a leading ayurvedic pharmaceutical company in India, PartySmart is a reformulated compound based on ayurvedic, biomedical and phytochemical sources. This creative process has involved multiple translations, resulting in hybrid pharmacological models, including, for instance, ayurvedic post-digestive tastes and biomedical effects on enzymatic activities. These modes of therapeutic action are conceptualizations of an active drug-- i.e., a digested and metabolized drug. A problem arises, however, in the fact that the ingestion of this drug is linked to alcohol consumption in a country where it is widely considered in negative terms. For this reason, PartySmart was seen as an ambivalent presence in the firm's catalogue and thus a series of interventions aiming to uphold the image of this drug transformed both its social inscription and its materiality. This transformation also took a different, global trajectory as the drug gradually developed as a transnational pharmaceutical commodity and became a new object in new latitudes. By focusing on the social and material dimensions of this drug in these contexts, this paper calls upon science studies to expand the scope of pharmaceutical anthropology. It brings together various layers of analysis to offer new perspectives on contemporary herbal formulations as they traverse material cultures, medical epistemologies, sociopolitical borders, legal environments and social practices.

show abstract

The Psychology of Poverty Alleviation

Ascher

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to design, enact, and protect poverty alleviation policies in developing countries, we must first understand the psychology of how the poor react to their plight, and not just the psychology of the privileged called upon for sacrifice. This book integrates social and psycho-dynamic psychology, economics, policy design, and policy-process theory to explore ways to follow through on successful poverty-alleviation initiatives, while averting destructive conflict. Using eight case studies across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, William Ascher examines successes and failures in helping the poor through affirmative action, cash transfers, social-spending targeting, subsidies, and regional development. In doing so, he demonstrates how social identities, attributions of deservingness, and perceptions of the policy process shape both the willingness to support pro-poor policies and the conflict that emerges over distributional issues.

show abstract

The intoxicated poor: alcohol, morality and power among the boatmen of Banaras

Cited by 20 publications

References 22 publications

Closing the treatment gap for alcohol use disorders in low- and middle-income countries

Closing the treatment gap for alcohol use disorders in low- and middle-income countries

Hangover free! The social and material trajectories of PartySmart

The Psychology of Poverty Alleviation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About