Afiyūn-Zadagān: Mardom-negārī dar Jūnūb-i Tehrān Persian

Addicts: An Ethnography of South Tehran portrays scenes from the real lives of hidden populations struggling with addiction in the two neighborhoods of Lab Khat and Darvazeh Ghar. Asghar Izadi Jiran, an anthropologist, employed a participatory observation method, living—and even forming friendships—with impoverished Baloch migrants in Lab Khat and homeless addicts in Darvazeh Ghar. Relying on a compassionate ethnographic approach, he sought not only to avoid reproducing dark, stereotypical images of these neighborhoods but also to reveal moments of brightness and resilience among their residents.

Addicts depicts the lived experiences of urban subtenants who, due to political and social discrimination, have been forced into rooms in old houses within the decayed urban fabric. It describes the bodies of street dwellers, who, under a cultural regime of exclusion, are compelled to choose homelessness. The migrants of Lab Khat and the homeless of Darvazeh Ghar are victims of the social suffering endemic to marginalized communities. Locally, they cultivate social strategies around substance use as a means of survival. Yet anti-drug policies—often focused on these very neighborhoods under the guise of restoring order—largely ignore the larger-scale forces of the drug market and industry.