Coping with a war on drugs : Bachelor Thesis

Sammanfattning: After the 2016 election of president Duterte, the Philippines have been actively fighting a war on drugs inside their own country according to the new policies developed by the newly chosen regime. These policies have led to the several thousands of dead in police operations which are by many called out as extrajudicial executions. The purpose of this study is to research the experience of urban people living in a society pervaded by a war on drugs with the goal of contributing to the understanding of how they handle the situation and how it affects their lives. The authors have spent two months in the Philippines, mainly in the Metro Manila area to gather the data for the study through mainly participant observation and semi-structured interviews for an ethnographic study. The results show who are being targeted in the war, how people experience it and create labeling and stigma according to the societal rules and norms as well as how people cope with difficult circumstances out of their control.