“War, Drugs and the Post-Soviet Era”
Dessa Bergen-Cico, Syracuse University, Visiting Fulbright Scholar
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 6:30pm
CRRC-Georgia
1 Ramaz Chkhikvadze Str. (Former 5 Chavchavadze Ave.)
Entrance III-IV, First Floor
0179 Tbilisi, Georgia
This talk will examine the historical and current connections between the Cold War, drugs and the Post-Soviet era with an emphasis on Georgia. War and drugs escalate in response to one another. Drugs are used as strategic tools of war; they are trafficked and sold to fund insurgent groups, and to numb survivors and society from the traumatic aftermath.
Dr. Bergen-Cico is a visiting Fulbright Scholar from the U.S., and currently teaches in the Addiction Studies Program at Ilia State University. Dessa holds a research appointment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Health Care Providers in the Addictive Disorders. She is a Certified Addiction Specialist (CAS) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. Her areas of teaching and research focus on: a.) alcohol, other drugs, and addictive behaviors; b.) traumatic stress and the impact of exposure to violence on the development of addictive behaviors; and c.) the use of mindfulness-based practices for prevention and recovery from trauma and addiction. Dr. Bergen-Cico has over 30 scholarly publications and is the author of the book War and Drugs: The Role of Military Conflict in the Development of Substance Abuse.
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W-i-P is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education (ACTR/ACCELS), and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.
The purpose of the W-i-P series is to provide support and productive criticism to those researching and developing academic projects pertaining the Caucasus region.
Would you like to present at one of the W-i-P sessions? Send an e-mail to natia@crrccenters.org.
