Institute for Culture and Society

Date: Tuesday 4 June
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Linkage Room, Institute for Culture and Society, building EM, UWS Parramatta campus (opens in a new window), corner James Ruse Drive and Victoria Road, Rydalmere
Queries and RSVP: Ingrid Matthews or Kev Dertadian

George (Kev) Christopher Dertadian

Quasi-Medical – Creative resistance and the non-medical use of painkillers

Abstract

This paper explores a series of theoretical approaches to the government of contemporary subjects by drawing on conversational interview data collected as part of a project on the non-medical use of painkillers. I argue that non-medical use exists at the intersection of the structure of medical authority and the agency of individual choice. The operation of medical authority is first explored through the Foucaultian concept of power/knowledge and Ulrich Beck’s ‘risk society’ theory. Liberal philosophies about healthy life choices are then explored as an important counter-discourse. The paper draws on two distinct non-medical practices to demonstrate the tension engendered by these opposing social discourses: the use of painkillers to preempt a headache; and the use of painkillers to manage an opiate dependence. A large portion of the participants in this study discussed using painkillers before they had a headache, in order to avoid a headache. Others discussed the injection of painkillers to regulate an established opiate dependence. It is argued that the narratives of non-medical users stretch the governmentality literature’s emphasis on ‘governing at a distance’, by incorporating notions of resistance. This produces what I term ‘quasi-medical’ references that improvise medical discourse to creatively resist it.

Biography

Kev Dertadian (BA Hons) is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Western Sydney’s Institute for Culture and Society. He undertook undergraduate and honours study in cultural studies at Macquarie University. His research interests include alcohol and other drugs, critical health, and critical criminology. His current PhD research investigates the non-medical use of pain medications among young Australian adults. The project examines the intersection of substance use and pain, and how they are problematised by non-medical use.