Mirror for the Other: Marijuana, Multivocality and the Media in an Eastern Caribbean Country
Hymie Rubenstein
Anthropologica 1995 DOI: 10.2307/25605809 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that anthropology's 'mirror for man' has mainly served Western audiences and that the discipline should write for and engage the Third World Other in accessible forms. The author illustrates this through his own 'anthropology as journalism' in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where newspaper articles questioned elite and middle-class beliefs about marijuana production, sale, and consumption. |
Abstract
Cultural anthropology's "Mirror for Man" has always been a mirror mainly by and for the West. A corollary of the preoccupation with writing to ourselves about the Other in the specialized jargon and prose of the discipline is that little effort is made by First World anthropologists to write for and to the Third World Other in a manner that is accessible to them. My aim is to illustrate how the discipline's mandate of cultural critique can be extended to incorporate and engage that Other by referring to my experience of anthropology as journalism in the Eastern Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines where my critique consisted of a long series of newspaper articles questioning elite and middle-class societal beliefs about the causes and consequences of marijuana production, sale and consumption.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on cannabis, most cited first.
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| Delta-8, Delta-10, HHC, THC-O, THCP, and THCV: What Should We Call These Products? | 2023 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Model Psychoses Induced by LSD-25 in Normals | 1956 | Historical analysis | |
| Is there a specific ‘cannabis psychosis’? | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Peak-experience and the entheogenic use of cannabis in world religions | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Out of Harm's Way?: Illicit Drug Use, Medicalization and the Law | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |