June 2, 2009

An Anthropologist Bridges Two Worlds

With his insights into the culture of street addicts, Philippe Bourgois helps doctors make a difference

An Anthropologist Bridges Two Worlds 1

Philadelphia

Philippe Bourgois, who has spent his career studying some of America's roughest neighborhoods and subcultures, got an unusually harsh welcome to his new hometown: Last May, during a trip to North Philly to make contact with some drug dealers, he got caught up in a police raid.

It was a rainy Friday night, and the air was already charged with adrenaline. The previous week, a dozen or more cops had been caught by a TV-news helicopter beating on three black suspects in a shooting. This

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