Michael Taussig’s My Cocaine Museum (2004) tells the story of cocaine production on Colombia’s pacific coast which plagued the country throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Taussig writes with the overarching idea of a fictional cocaine museum, parodying Bogotá’s Gold Museum and the museum’s failure to acknowledge Colombia’s true history as a nation that struggled for 52 years with and armed conflict and a long past of exporting cocaine. My Cocaine Museum reveals this story on a small scale in the village of Santa María and recounts how the locals were exploited by the guerrillas and the global demand for cocaine. He writes to expose to the international community the various realities of Colombia and reveals the true beauty of the …show more content…
This source is valuable to examine as it demonstrates how cocaine rendered the country more vulnerable to globalization when the nation was already engaged in a prolonged armed conflict. Taussig himself asserts how cocaine exposed the nation to other threats, claiming, “along with the cocaine come the guerrilla, and behind the guerrilla come the paramilitaries in a war without mercy for control of the coca fields and therefore of what little is left of the staggeringly incompetent Colombian state” (16). This source is also valuable as Taussig even mentions how the United States War on Drugs in the 1970s heightened conflict and corruption, doing nothing on an international scale and allowing for Colombian cartels to dominate the cocaine market throughout the 1980s. My Cocaine Museum analyzes Colombia’s transition to cocaine and a critique of world inaction and globalization, interweaving both fact and fiction through first-hand accounts of Colombia’s history. In this sense, it is a worthy source to examine due to the first-hand stories of the violence caused by cocaine trade. Yet, the novel shares a limited perspective as it only tells one side of the story of the arise of cocaine and gives little voice to those who took over the farms and turned them into profit machines for funding the war. Nonetheless, it sheds light on a very important reality in Colombian
The Cocaine Kids and Dorm Room Dealers are two very different, but yet similar books. Cocaine Kids are about a group of kids, primarily of Hispanic race, with one kid of the Black race. The kids were raised in the inner city of New York. Dorm Room Dealers are about White, middle to upper-middle class college students, who was selling drugs for their status. The purpose of this paper is to prove that there are racial disparities among drug users. There will be examples from the texts that show the different takes on the drug markets and how race plays a factor. There also will be how these experiences shape the kids drug dealing and using. The paper will conclude how all the kids either remained in the drug career or left the drug career.
In “The Ascent” Ron Rash introduces us to a child who is brought up by cocaine addicts name Jared. Jared ventures out into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to escape his sad home life and on his little adventure Jared finds the lost plane authorities had been looking for, for months. Upon leaving Jared takes the ring from the woman on the plan and returns home where he finds that his parents have already run out of drugs. His father takes the ring Jared had found and then sales the ring for money. His surroundings along with foreshadowing suggests Jared will have to make a life changing decision, but his youth suggests he is too naïve to come to such a realization.
In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
An International Conference, October 18, 19 and 20 2001., Museo Del Oro, Casa Simón Bolivar, Historic Center of Cartagena, Cartagena De Indias, Colombia. Toronto, Canada: Department of History at York University, 2001. Print.
“Just Say No!” A statement that takes us deep into yet another decade in the history of the United States which was excited by controversies, social issues, and drug abuse. The topic of this statement is fueled by the growing abuse of cocaine in the mid 1980s. I shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s from a cultural and social stand point because on that decade this country moved to the rhythms and the pace of this uncanny drug. Cocaine took its told on American society by in the 1980s; it ravaged with every social group, race, class, etc. It reigned over the United States without any prejudices. Crack cocaine was the way into urban society, because of its affordability in contrast to the powdered form. In society the minorities were the ones most affected by the growing excess of crime and drug abuse, especially African Americans; so the question was “Why was nearly everybody convicted in California federal court of crack cocaine trafficking black?” (Webb: Day 3). The growing hysteria brought forth many questions which might seem to have concrete answers, but the fact of the matter is they are all but conspiracy in the end, even though it does not take away the ambiguity and doubt. I will take on only a few topics from the vast array of events and effects this period in time had tended to. Where and who this epidemic seemed to affect more notably, and perhaps how the drugs came about such territories and people. What actions this countries authority took to restore moral sanity, and how it affected people gender wise.
“My crimey here think the way to go is more drugs. But I know better. I think making money is okay, but not making it just by dealing. You gotta go legit, at least for a minute. You gotta go state fresh, all the way live, if you wanna do anything worthwhile out here. Everybody thinks they can make crazy dollars, but they confused. It aint like that. I’ve seen co-caine bust many a head – they get fucked up and be clocking out after they find out they cannot find the key to understanding that mystery skied. But you know what? But-but0but you know what? They don’t have a clue. Word.” (Williams, 1989)
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience on the history of cocaine, current prevalence rates and health effects among other issues.
Evo Morales’ term as president of Bolivia reflects his childhood of hard work and perseverance. In an American’s eyes, it is easy to the see the negative effects of a drug such as cocaine. Evo Morales’ main fight was protecting the farmers of the coca plant, which is the origin of the drug cocaine. As he grew up working hard in the fields farming such plants as coca, he was able to relate with the many people whose lively hood revolved around the farming of the profitable plant. Although it is not documented that he is aware of the negative effects that any kind of drug has on not only the country that grows it but the world, I argue that he finds th...
Gootenberg, Paul. Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
"Cocaine delivers an intensity of pleasure - and despair - beyond the bounds of normal human experience."
In Jeanette Schmidt’s article, Transporting Cocaine states, “Colombian cartels would pay the Mexican groups as much as $1,000/kilo to smuggle cocaine into the United States” (Schmidt, 2). The Colombian cartels would then pick up the drugs and resume distribution and sales efforts, making personal profits that are unrecorded. In order to seize these individuals who are growing in power and numbers, the U.S. must control the connections between Mexico and Columbia. Mexico is the biggest transporter amongst Columbia and the U.S. because it shares a border with the U.S. This increasingly poisonous drug trafficking leads to drug dealers...
Potter, George Ann. “Is the War on Drugs Bringing "Dignity" to Bolivia?”TheWashington Report on the Hemisphere. Vol. 19.11. July 30, 1999.
A Nameless Inmate shouts to the camera behind bars in the Documentary “The house I Live In, he shouted “Just wipe me out straight off the map for nothing. 57 years for a small rock . I wanna know why i’m treated like I murder somebody?
The paper traces Escobar's life from humble peasant beginnings to powerful cocaine drug dealer and kingpin. The paper discusses the sound financial decisions Escobar made as well as the way he invested in legitimate projects using the funds he gained illegally. The paper explores the influence Escobar had and the way he worked, ultimately unsuccessfully, to establish a no-extradition clause into the Colombian constitution.
The book was committed to viewing globalization and drug trafficking that requires both individual and collective state action. The book also concentrated on events such as the drug trade and how the author interprets the global, multi-faceted and complex nature of the drug trade. It discusses the relationship between drug trafficking and globalization by describing the problems of the state. The geographic location of Jamaica, its historical and social conditions all increase the potential for drug trafficking. Over the years the sovereign states failed to adapt to global change and trafficking problems. Globalization has created greater opportunity to transport illicit narcotics from small countries like Jamaica to the main drug consumption states of United States and Britain. The history, economical, geographical and social factors of the United States and Britain has had a major significance on Jamaica’s drug trafficking market. Combined with globalization all the above have contributed to Jamaica drug trafficking reputation. The