Thesis on "Ethnographic Interview"

Thesis 5 pages (1684 words) Sources: 0 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Ethnographic Interviews

The person that I have chosen to interview belongs to the African-American cultural group. The theme I was interested in is represented by the use of drugs. Therefore my interview focused on this issue. My purpose was to understand the experience of becoming addicted from the point-of-view of somebody who actually underwent the experience. The interview consisted in a set of questions which were mostly open ended. The goal was to get as much information as possible in order to be able to explore the history of the person and better understand the substance abuse experience. The role which I assumed was the one of a learner. The role which the interviewed person acquired was the one of a cultural guide who provided me with insight while teaching me about their unique experience.

The interviewed person first started using substances at the age of 22. When asked about the reasons for which he started doing it he told me about the influence of the entourage. The first time he did it, it was out of curiosity. So many people did it, he wanted to know what the pleasure at stake was like. The experience was rather disappointing because the effect of the substance was not as strong as he had expected. The members of the friend groups the interview had contact with used to make frequent use of the substance so he had the chance to do it again. As the number of opportunities to use the substance increased so did the pleasure effect. Since everybody did it and did it on a regular basis, the act slowly lost its "unusual" connotations and slowly became perceived as part of normality " Everybody was doing it. We used to go out and party very often and the drugs were present every time, before, during and after the party. If it wasn't my best friend who used it, it was my girlfriend or my cousin or somebody else. Everywhere you went, it was there. Sometimes afterhours parties would last until noon and everybody wanted to use the drugs. Their behaviour did not chance very much so you had the impression that nothing changes, fundamentally I mean. And since everybody around me did it and did it so often it seemed to be something normal. Nobody wondered about health risks, it was all about the pleasure and the party and being cool. "

The subject first realized he had a problem three years after. The body had gotten accustomed to the substance in the mean time and consequently the dose had to be increased in order to obtain a pleasure which was similar to the one provided by the previous experiences. The use became not only bigger in terms of quantity but the frequency of the experience was increased as well. The use frequency increased in an almost constant manner. The interviewed person declared that at a certain point he wondered about the consequences which the increasing use of the substance might have on his body and stopped using it for a short while, but he couldn't carry on without it so he did the only thing that he could do, which is stop asking himself this type of questions. He started to realize the use of the drug might be a real problem when he realized he was spending all his money on it and was no longer able to enjoy parties and gatherings with his friends in the absence of the drug. In addition he had lost many of the friends who did not make use of any kind of drugs. The interviewed person drew the attention to the fact that it was pretty difficult to admit that you might actually have a problem and that the situation was no longer under his control.

The interviewed person is an agnostic, so the influence of the religious beliefs wasn't a very powerful interpretation coordinate. When asked about how his ethnicity influenced the entire experience, the subject answered that he didn't think that belonging to a different ethnic group made the experience different since a large number of the friends who had the same habit as him were white Americans.

One of the factors which actually played an important part in the whole experience was represented by the philosophical beliefs. On the one hand there is the belief in the individual freedom. The interviewed subject believes that we are all free to do whatever we please with ourselves since in the end we are the ones who must assume the responsibility for our actions. This belief supported the use of the substance.

On the other hand there were the moral coordinates and the upbringing which the subject had received which made him believe that drug abuse is not a correct action. The most important consequence of this belief was that he hid his habit from people who could have helped him, such as his parents because he was ashamed and afraid of their reaction. In my opinion the two beliefs contradict each other.

Although the interviewed person spoke about an internal conflict and brought philosophical motivations into discussion my conclusion was that the drug did nothing but increase the confusion. Instead of providing an answer to the philosophical issues that the interviewed might have dealt with it only made the situation worse.

Despite the fact that the interviewed party did not perceive any difference between him and the members of other ethnic groups as far as the drug abuse experience was concerned I tried to focus the discussion in this area. The attitude of the group regarding drug abuse and drug dependency is a negative, disapproving one. The upbringing that the subject received and his belief that his habit will shock and upset the members of his family is a clear proof of that. The fact that many of the friends who did not have the habit of drug use refused to continue the relationship with him is another evidence in this direction.

The recover process began when the subject realized that the drug was starting to do him important damage at physical level and not only. The loss of appetite made him loose weight and the increasing doses made him feel bad. The crisis consisted in the fact that he needed to make use of the drug more and more often but when this happened, the body reacted in a negative manner. The concerns for health were the main reasons for which the interviewed person started the recovery process. However, when the health condition improved the subject started the drug use again.

The interviewed person received help from the friends and the family. Initially the family was shocked and did not know how to deal with the problem, but then they gave all the support to their son " Initially my family was shocked, especially my mother. For me it was horrible to have to admit it. The worse things was not that I had done something wrong, but the fact that I could not fix the problem on my own but had to ask for their help. After all I had created this mess on my own. My biggest fear was that my parents would have been disappointed. Which I believe they were. But they stood by me and supported me in every way after the initial shock diminished." The friends who did not make use of drugs showed a lot of support during the recovery. The ones who instead made use of the drug did not pay much attention to what was going on with the interviewed person in this period. The fact itself is a proof that their addiction was very strong.

The subject started reusing the drug soon after going out of rehabilitation. One of the… READ MORE

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