The Opioid Epidemic and US Culture
Expression, Art, and Politics in an Age of Addiction

Travis D. Stimeling (Edited by)

9781949199710

Paperback / softback, published 1 December 2020

300 pages, 38 black & white images
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.483 kg

The Opioid Epidemic and US Culture brings a new set of perspectives to one of the most pressing contemporary topics in Appalachia and the nation as a whole. A project aimed both at challenging dehumanizing attitudes toward those caught in the opioid epidemic and at protesting the structural forces that have enabled it, this edited volume assembles a multidisciplinary community of scholars and practitioners to consider the ways that people have mobilized their creativity in response to the crisis. From the documentary The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia to the role of cough syrup in mumble rap, and from a queer Appalachian zine to protests against the Sackler family's art-world philanthropy, the essays here explore the intersections of expressive culture, addiction, and recovery.

Written for an audience of people working on the front lines of the opioid crisis, the book is essential reading for social workers, addiction counselors, halfway house managers, and people with opioid use disorder. It will also appeal to the community of scholars interested in understanding how aesthetics shape our engagement with critical social issues, particularly in the fields of literary and film criticism, museum studies, and ethnomusicology.

• Introduction: The Opioid Crisis and Expressive Culture
• Travis D. Stimeling
• Part I. On the Outside Looking In: The Opioid Crisis from Without
• 1. ""Something Too Pure / Is Killing Us"": Opioid-Addiction Porn, Endurance, and the Neoliberal Appropriation of Resilience
• Jordan Lovejoy
• 2. ""Snort Pills on My Head"": The Visual Rhetoric of Addiction, Abjection, and White Trash in The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
• Christopher Garland
• 3. The Pill: Aesthetics, Addiction, and Gender in Jennifer Weiner'
  s All Fall Down
• Ashleigh Hardin
• 4. Prince, Tom Petty, and Pain: Projections of Authenticity in Popular Music
• Leigh H. Edwards
• 5. ""Maybe If I'
  d Stayed"": Appalachian Outmigration and Narratives of Loss in Nate May'
  s Dust in the Bottomland
• Travis D. Stimeling
• Part II. If You Lived Here: Representing the Opioid Epidemic from Within
• 6. Pretty Lil Azzie
• Crystal Good
• 7. The Way the World Is: From Maggie Boylan
• Michael Henson
• 8. Finding Maggie Boylan
• Michael Henson
• 9. You Talkin'
  about Me? Turning the Blood of Appalachia'
  s Opioid Epidemic into Ink
• Jacqueline Yahn
• 10. Remediating the Opioid Crisis in Museums
• Ethan Sharp
• 11. A Hole Is Not a Void: Extraction, Addiction, and Aesthetics
• Jonas N. T. Becker
• 12. Narrative Engagement with the Opioid Epidemic: From Personal Story to Personal Reflection
• Amanda M. Caleb and Susan McDonald
• 13. Recovering from Addiction in Sobriety: Narrating Disability/Mental Illness through the Medium of Comic Art
• Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad
• 14. ""Hey, Let'
  s Have a Very Good Time"": The Opioid Aesthetics of Post-Verbal Rap
• Austin T. Richey
• Part III. New Day Dawning: Recovery, Sobriety, and Post-Opioid Futures
• 15. Queer Addiction and Queer Harm Reduction in Appalachia
• Gina Mamone
• 16. Healing Open Wounds
• Chelsea Jack
• 17. Pain Is One Dance Partner: Move with It
• Anne Lloyd Willett
• 18. Images of Opioid Addiction, Recovery, and Privilege in Mainstream Hip Hop
• Paige Zalman
• 19. The Voices of Hope A Recovery Community Choir: Redefining Self, Community, and Success
• Natalie Shaffer
• Contributors
• Index