Khat-Chewing, Adiaphorisation and Morality: Rethinking Ethics in the Age of the Synopticon-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Khat-Chewing, Adiaphorisation and Morality: Rethinking Ethics in the Age of the Synopticon

Published:2024-04-20 Issue: Volume: Page:
ISSN:1205-8629
Container-title:Critical Criminology
language:en
Short-container-title:Crit Crim

Author:

Swain Spencer^ORCID,Lashua Brett,Spracklen Karl

Abstract

AbstractIn June 2014, the UK Government made khat (Catha edulis) a Class C drug under the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. Based on limited evidence, this decision went against the Government's own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and has divided members of the British–Somali diaspora, where khat is a popular form of recreation. The Government’s decision to ban khat highlights broader questions regarding how ethical legislation is implemented within post-industrial societies, exposing postcolonial power systems that ‘Other’ migrant groups through synoptic control. Based on qualitative interviews with members of the Somali diaspora and external agencies in Northern England, the research explores how this system fails to consider khat's complex moral position while framing users and those living within the diaspora as deviant.

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Link

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10612-024-09754-8.pdf

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