The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the Rio Grande

What changes can be made in addiction care that incorporate aspects of culture and kinship? How can care combat problems that exist outside of institutional structures?

What institutional structures does Garcia describe as detrimental to the process of drug rehabilitation? How have these structures been challenged or intensified since the book was published?

What roles do history and space play in drug use and mental health? How can these be considered and incorporated when developing methods of care?

How does gender inform understandings of addiction and treatment? How can belonging and community be considered when developing methods for addiction care?

Do you agree that the framing of addiction as a chronic illness contributes to high rates of recidivism? How did addiction come to be associated with chronic illness, and what other understandings might influence how the identity of addiction is formed?

What are the different types of loss that Garcia’s research subjects experience? How do these experiences of loss contribute to heroin addiction? How are they intensified by addiction?

What role does the pastoral play in Garcia’s work? How does her exploration of the region both reflect and disengage from pastoral portrayals of New Mexico in art and literature?

What is Garcia’s understanding of melancholy within the various contexts she examines? Do you agree with her conception of melancholy? Why or why not?