Digital localisation in an illicit market space: interactional creation of a psychedelic assemblage in a darknet community of exchange.
The International journal on drug policy February 1, 2022 Maja Sawicka, Irene Rafanell, Angus Bancroft 10 citations
A cryptomarket for illicit drugs that operates as a forum-based space, rejecting centralized technical solutions like escrow and encryption, instead relies on personal relationships between buyers and vendors to build trust. Through manual scraping of the forum from 2017 to 2020, the authors constructed a 'thick data' set and analyzed micro-interactional dynamics such as turn-taking, sanctioning, and norming processes. They found that digital communication fosters a distinct culture, termed a 'psychedelic assemblage,' which frames drug use and trading. Mutual monitoring and policing among community members normalize practices and create a shared lifeworld that ensures the market's operability.