The Pastoral Clinic Flashcards
Definition of “pharmakon”
cure; poison
heroin can be understood as a pharmakon - it can be beneficial and harmful at the same time
John’s story
John was a patient at the clinic –> he self-discharged after seeing heroin paraphernalia beside the “dying river”, despite almost being done with the detox program –> he was found high on heroin and arrested, this time sent to prison
Peter’s story
Peter was a patient at the clinic –> during Garcia’s shift, he was going through the pain of heroin withdrawal –> asked Garcia for help, and she responded by massaging his legs for him –> Peter apologised for his pain, then asked Garcia to help massage him again later –> Garcia refuses, but they talk about Peter’s life together
Definition of “commensurability”
to be comparable, measurable by the same standard, relatable
e.g. Garcia’s interaction with Peter was both commensurable (they shared a common vulnerability) and incommensurable (Garcia, not being an addict, cannot understand the pain of withdrawal)
Understanding, care, and relation - Levinas
Levinas believes that understanding and care require a relation, which is dialogic (based on dialogue and communication) and ethical (arises out of responsible concern for another person)
Levinas states that speaking to someone is ultimately an ethical experience - we should respond when spoken to, and should not reduce the “other” to our own categories of knowledge
Alma’s story
Alma’s sister, who was not a heroin addict, died in a car accident –> her mother asked why it couldn’t have been Alma (an addict) who had died –> Alma ultimately overdosed and passed away
she appears to have been the very definition of “melancholic subjectivity”
Melancholy vs mourning
melancholy is something you hold onto, and it intensifies the feeling of loss
mourning is something you work through and eventually get over
Interconnected understandings of returns, repetitions, recurrences, and endlessness
clinical life - expectations of recovery, even though addiction is treated like a chronic disease; punctuated by cyclical relapses
Hispano life - recurring pains of intergenerational hopelessness, based on a history of cultural dispossession, dispossession of land, and its accompanying displacements and dislocations
heroin - enables life by making it “doable”, but also provides an exit when life is no longer “doable” through suicide (though release is brought on by death, the cycle for the living is perpetuated)
Cyclicality of Garcia’s research participants
loss - land, kin, friends, memories
the clinic - life as a patient, life as a prisoner
heroin as pharmakon - healing, poisoning, relapse/return
Descansos
to commemorate the death of a loved one; they are put in place to insist on death’s essential and eternal relationship to life, and stand as a form of ethical commitment to what has been lost
Amor Fati
the love of one’s fate
to Nietzsche, the idea of eternal returns is an affirmation of life, wrought from the sheer meaninglessness and absurdity of existence
Definition of “kinship”
culturally-defined relationship set on the basis of blood ties, marriage, or even strong social ties
can provide basis for social identity (e.g. as a daughter), social stability/continuity, and structures individual rights and obligations
Bernadette and Eugenia’s story
Bernadette went to prison in place of Eugenia (i.e. gave up her two children for her mother) –> Eugenia later refused to contact her daughter in prison
Bernadette demonstrated the conprimiso (“commitment”), which can be problematic and lead to forms of care that might not actually be safe/health-promoting
an example of the heritable, intergenerational experience of addiction
Lisa and Michelle’s story
Lisa was an addict for many years and felt extreme guilt and shame, so she would hide her heroin use from Michelle –> when Michelle started using drugs too, Lisa continued to feel guilt and shame for getting her addicted, but she also felt relieved at not needing to hide her drug use –> Michelle eventually died of an overdose
an example of the heritable, intergenerational experience of addiction
Suicide as a form of life
for some of Garcia’s research participants, suicide can be the only way out of the cycle of endless returns to attain “full freedom”
when someone commits suicide, the relationships they have with other people can take on a whole new meaning (e.g. Michelle’s death transformed the nature of her relationship with Lisa, and communicated the depth of her pain and hurt)
