Feb. 27, 2013: Kristin Ogilvie presents 'Negotiating Boundaries of Legal and Illegal Drinking in Rural Alaska'
by Michelle Saport |
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 4 p.m.
Beatrice McDonald Hall, Room 104
The Anthropology Department will be sponsoring a public talk by Kristin Ogilvie, candidate
for a faculty position in cultural anthropology. The title and abstract for her talk
are as provided below.
"Negotiating Boundaries of Legal and Illegal Drinking in Rural Alaska"
Kristin Ogilvie, Ph.D., explores the complexities of local alcohol policy, the practice
of drinking in rural Alaska and the perpetuation of drinking-related problems and
health disparities. Alaska's local-options law, which empowers local communities to
restrict alcohol, has been shown to reduce injuries and injury-related deaths in isolated
communities. Despite these reductions and the fact that most residents of these rural
communities are alcohol abstainers, alcohol misuse remains a significant community
and public health concern. Alcohol use persists in local-option communities with alcohol
consumers traveling to other communities that lack restrictions, through a thriving
bootleg industry of both illegal importation and manufacture and in the misuse of
products like disinfectant spray that contain denatured alcohol. Based on field research
and interviews with community residents, Ogilvie highlights the contested standpoints
on alcohol use in rural Alaska and the rational actions taken both by consumers of
alcohol in negotiating the boundaries of alcohol legality and by those who support
prohibiting its use. The analysis suggests that more comprehensive strategies to complement
local-options laws are needed to address community concerns about alcohol misuse and
to lessen health disparities associated with alcohol use in rural Alaska.