This talk addresses how the pain of advanc ed cancer is sustained in Pakistan by militarized apparatuses of narcotics control in the War on Drugs\, as well as by a national regime of rigid pric e ceilings. It draws on ethnographic research to show how these regimes of control—reimagined as ‘regimes of pain’—render morphine\, a cheap\, effecti ve opioid pain reliever\, scarce in hospitals. Ironically\, heroin\, morphi ne’s illegal derivative\, proliferates in illicit circuits in Pakistan\, wh ich is a conduit in flows of heroin from Afghanistan to the West. Morphine scarcity propels desperate families\, confronting loved ones in agonizing p ain\, into the illicit realm in search of heroin. The talk argues for exten ding the analytic gaze on pain and palliation beyond the body and the clini c\, the sites at which they are usually studied. Instead\, it implicates in stitutional apparatuses rooted in Western imperialism in the perpetuation o f end-of-life pain. Foregrounding the geopolitics of palliation\, it inscri bes oppressive narcotics and price control regimes with their devastating e ffects: the ‘legal-bureaucratic sustenance’ of unpalliated cancer pain.
The UBC South Asia Research Colloquium offers a forum for specialists in South Asia to share their research in front of an interdisciplinary audien ce. This seminar features speaker Zahra Hayat (University of British Columb ia\, Anthropology).
Date & Time:
Monday\, Novem
ber 27\, 2023 | 12:30-2:00 PM (PT)
Location:
UB
C Asian Centre\, Room 604\, 1871 West Mall\, Vancouver
Hosted by the
Department of Asian Studies\, University of British Columbia\, this event i
s open to the public.
Registration is required (please find the regist
ration form above).