Effects of transnational migration on drug use: An ethnographic study of Nepali female heroin users in Hong Kong

• An 18-month ethnography has been carried out in a Nepali community in Hong Kong to study the female Nepali heroin users.
• They are active power negotiators in the drug scene, yet their agency is also constrained by culture and history.
• Their active/passive role is largely dependent on the opportunities and constraints embedded in transnational migration.
• Findings are consistent with the concept of post-structuralism in gender and transnationalism theories.
• Transnationalism is an important perspective to study the situation of female drug users in a globalized context.

BackgroundPast studies of female drug users in South Asia tend to focus on their plights, for instance, how they have been driven to drug use and encounter more problems than their male counterparts, such as HIV/AIDS and sexual abuse. Few studies focus on their active role – how they actively make use of resources in the external environment to construct their desired femininity through drug consumption. Furthermore, little is known about the situation of female South Asian drug users who are living overseas. This paper is a study of transnational migration, drug use and gender – how transnational migration influences the drug use of female transnational migrants.MethodsAn 18-month ethnography has been carried out in a Nepali community in Hong Kong and 13 informants were interviewed. Data were coded and analyzed by using the grounded-theory approach. Themes related to the drug use of the female Nepali heroin users were identified.ResultsThe findings show that there are three important themes that significantly affect the drug use of female Nepali heroin users, which include (1) their relationships with intimate partners, (2) their means of support, and (3) their legal status in migration.ConclusionsThe findings are consistent with the concept of post-structuralism in gender and transnationalism theories. Female Nepali heroin users in Hong Kong are neither active agents nor passive victims; their active/passive role is largely dependent on their reconfigured opportunities and constraints in transnational migration. Thus, transnationalism should be taken as an important perspective to study the situation of female drug users in a globalized context.