58吃瓜

IR3088 The Drug Trade in the Americas

Academic year

2026 to 2027 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 9

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr D R Hirschel-Burns

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Daniel Hirschel-Burns

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

Despite the drug trade's vast economic revenue, its huge multinational and multicultural workforce, and centrality to public policy, its illegalisation fractures our understanding of how it works, what motivates its participants, and what effects it has on broader society. This seminar considers both the lived experiences of those involved and cultural depictions of the drug trade, from the show Narcos to narcocorridos. The module is designed to follow how the drug trade works conceptually and spatially from source to user. Therefore, the module chronologically addresses areas, both contemporary and historical, of drug production; the dynamics and experiences of drug trafficking, including the origins of narcotics illegalisation and state efforts to curtail the drug trade; and finally, the consumption of drugs and the practice鈥檚 policing by state authorities. The module largely focuses on the cocaine trafficking route from South America to the United States.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS IR2006

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Examination = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

2 hour seminars (X10 weeks)

Intended learning outcomes

  • Contextualise the illegalisation and trafficking of narcotics as historically-rooted processes.
  • Understand the varying definitions of drugs and how attitudes to controlling them changed.
  • Understand the varying definitions of drugs and how attitudes to controlling them changed.
  • Understand the different types of market regulation that exist under capitalism, and how drug market regulation compares to licit industries.
  • Analyse how cultural production around the drug trade influences our understandings of what the drug trade is and how we should judge it ethically.
  • Consider how academics study and should study phenomena that are by nature covert, and what that tells us about the methods we use to learn about them.