Les sociétés de l’opium : regards croisés sur la fumerie new-yorkaise au xixe siècle

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, recreational opium use began to spread in America. Initially seen as an innocuous remedy, it soon morphed into a hobby—and a vice—for a select few via a newly imported establishment: the “Chinese” opium den. Seen as a source of potential moral decay and physical deterioration by mainstream hygienist discourse, the opium den was also a sanctuary and a home for its disciples. Caught between evolving notions of identity, community, morality and a scientific revolution in the making, the opium den briefly embodied the defining struggles of turn-of-the-century urban America.