The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology complements its special exhibition Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America with a series of special programs in March, April, and May. The exhibition, on view in the Penn Museum's Merle-Smith Gallery East, will remain open after hours, 4:30 to 9:00 pm, prior to and after each program. All programs are pay-what-you-want.
Wednesday, March 17, 6:00-8:00 pm A Conversation on Urban Poverty in Philadelphia and the United States Round table discussion with audience participation. Scholars of urban America, whose life work has been dedicated to a theoretical and practical understanding of US intercity poverty, ethnic segregation, and the history of drug use and violence, participate.Participants: • Philippe Bourgois - Richard Perry University professor of Anthropology & Family and Community Medicine, University of Pennsylvania• Elijah Anderson - William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Sociology, Yale University• Eric Schneider - Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania• Michael Katz - Water H. Annenberg Professor of History, Research Associate in the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania
Monday, March 22, 6:00 pmPlay Reading: Corner Wars"Corner Wars," a two act play, is the story of a day in the life of a group of young drug dealers working a street corner in North Philadelphia. Philadelphia playwright Timothy Dowlin, who studied theater at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts, wrote the play, his literary debut, which was first produced at 47th Street Theatre in New York by Theater for a New Generation in 2003. The play was awarded Newsday's George Oppenheimer award. Director Omar Evans organizes the reading; Mr. Dowlin joins for a question and answer period following the reading.
Tuesday, April 6, 6:00-8:00 pmAddiction and Recovery: Lessons from PhiladelphiaRound table discussion with audience participation. Panel participants, to be announced, include practitioners and survivors working on the front lines in Philadelphia and at the national level, finding solutions to problems of addiction, homelessness, and poverty. Panelists to be announced.
Tuesday, May 4, 6:00-8:00 pmPublic Health and Law Enforcement: Reframing the Debate in PhiladelphiaRound table discussion with audience participation. Panel participants, to be announced, will re-examine the stalemate of the war on drugs, asking the question: can the contradictions between zero tolerance laws and law enforcement, and public health needs and services, be mediated productively? Panelists to be announced.
In Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America, anthropologist Philippe Bourgois and photographer-ethnographer Jeff Schonberg document the daily lives of homeless drug users, drawing upon more than a decade of fieldwork they conducted among a community of heroin injectors and crack smokers who survive on the streets of San Francisco's former industrial neighborhoods. About 40 black and white photographs are interwoven with edited transcriptions of tape recorded conversations, fieldwork notes, and critical analysis to explore the intimate experience of homelessness and addiction. Revealing the social survival mechanisms and perspectives of this marginalized "community of addicted bodies," the exhibition also sheds light on the often unintended consequences of public policies that can exacerbate the suffering faced by street-based drug users in America.
The research for Righteous Dopefiend was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives is co-sponsor of this exhibition as a part of their 2009/2010 series, "Creative Action: The Arts in Public Health," and Penn's Arts and the City programming initiative.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind's collective heritage.
Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn's campus, across from Franklin Field and adjacent to SEPTA's University City Regional Rail station serving the R1, R2, and R3 lines). Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $10 for adults; $7 for senior citizens (65 and above); $6 children (6 to 17) and full-time students with ID; free to Members, Penncard holders, and children 5 and younger; "pay-what-you-want" after 3:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and after 4:00 pm Sunday. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call (215) 898-4000.
Photograph, above, by Jeffrey Schonberg, in the exhibition Righteous Dopefiend
