The talk by Stefan Höhne will be held in English. For more information on the project in German, please visit the German project site.
On Thursday, June 6th, Dr. Stefan Höhne (KWI Essen) will present the talk “Governing the Narcotic City – Preview and Discussion of the upcoming HERA Research Project (2019-2022)” in the Urban American Studies colloquium organized by the Research Group City Scripts.
Drug cultures are deeply entwined with the economies, governance, and daily life of European cities. Especially within the last fifty years, the consumption and trade of both legal and illegal intoxicants has become a widespread phenomenon which has radically affected social life and social structure. In both media and political discourses, the presence of drug-related practices in public urban spaces is deemed particularly problematic. These practices are often problematically attached to specific urban areas and to marginalized groups such as the homeless, sex workers, or migrants.
Within the framework of the European funding HERA: Public Spaces (2019-2022), the international research project Governing the Narcotic City. Imaginaries, Practices and Discourses of Public Drug Cultures in European Cities from 1970 until today, will investigate how discourses and conflicts related to public drug consumption has influenced the social structures of European cities in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Which imaginary geographies and representations of urban drug cultures have been developed in this time period? How have municipalities regulated contested narcotic spaces? Which actors have called these policies into question and offered alternative strategies and visions? Seeking to address these questions, the research project Governing the Narcotic City will begin in June 2019 to investigate the discourses, practices and imaginaries of public drug cultures from the 1970s until today.
In this presentation, Stefan Höhne will give a ‚Sneak Peek‘ into the project and discuss ideas and potential research perspectives.