Abstract

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is the most widely used and accepted drug treatment program in North America. Despite its popularity, there is little research and literature on this twelve-step recovery program. In this thesis I argue that NA is aligned with neoliberal political rationalities, which are involved in promoting specific forms of individual responsibility and self-government in the construction of 'addict' subjectivities. Specifically, I argue that NA is a technology of the self that requires 'addicts' to transform their selves, through techniques of the self, into 'recovering addicts' in order to achieve recovery. These arguments are elaborated upon through a discourse analysis of the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text and a governmentality theoretical framework. Specifically, I use Foucault's modes of objectification to explore four ways by which people in NA are turned into subjects (scientific objectification, dividing practices, unifying practices and self-objectification). I highlight the two types of 'addict' subjectivities found in NA; the 'addict' and the 'recovering addict'. Using the examples of abstinence and confession, I demonstrate how NA instructs individuals to engage in techniques of the self in order to govern their selves according to the Twelve Steps of NA. I also discuss the centrality of the concept of freedom in this transformation and in NA in general.

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