Meth on the Mountain: A Photo-Ethnography of Women Methamphetamine Users in the Rural South

• In Event: Doing Visual Criminology: New Empirical and Theoretical Directions

Abstract

Traditional ethnographic research is well suited to tell the stories of disadvantaged and underserved people. Yet ethnographers seldom take advantage of a valuable tool in storytelling—photographs. Photo-ethnography is an emerging method that combines documentary photography with the traditional ethnographic methods (e.g., interviews and observations) to enrich the means by which ethnographers produce and present data. Here, we share preliminary findings and images from a collaborative photo-ethnography of people who use methamphetamine in the rural Southeastern United States. Using interviews, observations, and photographs with 16 women participants, we provide insights into their tumultuous familial and romantic relationships and examine how they narratively construct social identities and symbolic boundaries to develop a sense of self-worth. By doing so, we present a considered, contextualized, and meaningful portrait of women who live in rural poverty and struggle to gain a sense of agency amidst their drug use and diminished social status.

Authors

• Heith Copes, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Jared Ragland, University of Alabama at Birmingham