Investigating discourses on heroin use and users in a small island developing state (SIDS) : the case of Seychelles

Abstract

As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) with the highest GDP per capita in Africa, Seychelles is significantly affected by the heroin pandemic, experiencing the highest rate of heroin use per capita globally. Despite this, little is known about the complex realities of heroin practices in Seychelles, as no qualitative sociological study has been conducted locally. Existing literature, largely Western-focused, inadequately addresses how heroin use is produced, practised, and governed in island and small states contexts, limiting informed drug policy debates. I adopt a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to examine how problematic heroin use and users are constructed, promoted, and sustained within Seychelles’ socio-cultural and political milieu. Data were collected from three sources: media texts to analyse representations of heroin and users; semi-structured interviews with six former problematic heroin users, to capture lived experiences and discursive constructions; and interviews with seven elite and expert stakeholders, to explore policy and practice perspectives. Five dominant discourses – medical, resource scarcity, political, stigmatising, and the ‘wake up and be normal’ discourse- shape intervention approaches, public understanding, and user identities. These overlapping discourses construct heroin users as deviant, ill, criminal, or morally failed, justifying practices of surveillance, abstinence-based treatment, and exclusion. The study reveals how Seychelles’ religious, cultural, and socio-political dynamics reinforce stigma and moral judgement as tools of power. Notably, no distinction is made between heroin use and problematic use; all heroin consumption is deemed dangerous and addictive. This thesis advances sociological insights into drug use in island settings, challenges prevailing medicalised and criminalised narratives, and advocates for contextually relevant, inclusive strategies that address stigma and acknowledge the political aspects of heroin and other illegal drug consumption.