Etnográfico the work of institutions in crack scenes: an ethnographic study

Abstract

In the research that originated this article, which was performed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 2013 and 2015, we analyzed the work of the institutions regarding the crack scenes and the people who attend those institutions, with the goal of making them intelligible. In the perspective of the encounter between the Doctor’s Office in the Street (Consultório na Rua, in Portuguese) and those people present in those scenes who either have become users or not, we shed light on the relationships developed between this population and crack, between the Doctor’s Office in the Street and institutions such as the Police, social aid and other health services. Based on the data produced with the ethnography, one can comprehend two hubs for institutional action: one that is close to making someone die or letting them live, which indeed has a sovereign decision power, and the one according to which the institution offers itself as existential support and, therefore, changes after the encounter with those people it means to care for. We conclude that the existing and possible innovations in the health services are due to this way of working in which the institutions, through what was called ‘institutional responsibility,’ open themselves to transformations triggered by a ‘minority power.