Roberto Abadie, assistant professor of anthropology in the School of Global Integrative Studies, will deliver the talk “No Pleasure: Addiction, Poverty, and the Everyday Lives of Drug Users” at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium. The talk is part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ CAS Inquires series.

The event is free and open to the public and will be offered via Zoom. Registration is available here for the livestream.

As an ethnography of people who inject drugs in Puerto Rico, Abadie’s talk will examine the socio-cultural environment that promotes and sustain addiction while illustrating the effects of continuous drug use on the lives of those afflicted. Despite been rooted in Puerto Rico’s history, it aims to present a more comprehensive view of what it means to live with a drug addiction.

“As drug users develop drug dependence, most of their efforts are oriented not towards seeking pleasure but preventing painful withdrawal symptoms or sickness,” Abadie wrote.

His research focuses on how different forms of social stratification, in particular, class, race, and ethnicity, contribute to produce and reproduce health inequalities in marginalized populations.

The talk is the fourth in the series related to this year’s theme of “Pleasure and Pain”. Learn more about the CAS Inquire program and watch the previous talks.