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The everyday lives of contemporary youth are awash with chemicals to boost pleasure, moods, sexual performance, appearance and health. What do pills, drinks, sprays, powders and lotions do for youth? What effects are they seeking? How can we understand the ways chemicals affect young bodies and minds? Instead of focusing on illegal drug use with the purpose of controlling it, we study the pervasive use of chemicals in everyday life – ethnographically, from the perspective of youth themselves.
We draw on medical anthropology and studies of science, technology and contemporary youth culture to research the lived effects of chemicals. By ‘lived effects’, we mean the combination of chemicals’ pharmaceutical properties, beliefs and expectations surrounding their use, and users’ experimentation with various techniques. Our ethnographic fieldwork, based on participant observation and long-term immersion in the field, takes place in the Netherlands, France, Indonesia and the Philippines.
This website is dynamic, experimental and rich, like the methods used and insights produced during our innovative, tentacular project. The first phase of ChemicalYouth has ended, but our work continues and this website will keep growing. We have many publications in the oven, and numerous small and big projects are still in the works. It is likely that you will find something new every time you visit us.