Enacting the Rural: Youth,Substance Use,and Place

Abstract

This article examines how rural conditions are enacted differently across substance use situations among young people. Drawing on actor–network theory, the analysis traces how rural conditions manifest in specific ways rather than operating as a unified contextual backdrop. Based on qualitative interviews with young people in rural Denmark, the analysis examines two substance use sites in depth: a harbor shed and a camper van. In the shed, rurality is enacted as seclusion from adult oversight, a scarcity of youth venues, material arrangements that make the place usable across seasons, and aesthetic appreciation of outdoor space, enabling longer and wilder gatherings sustained by established local peer networks. In the camper van, rurality is enacted as distance between friends, limited transport, and economic constraints that make commercial venues prohibitive, pushing gatherings into planned weekends with sleepovers, while proximity to parents requires privacy to be actively produced through material arrangements. The analysis also shows that substances do not have stable effects. In the shed, alcohol intensifies sociality and prolongs gatherings, while cannabis shortens them by making bodies want to leave. In the camper van, alcohol reaches limits such as fatigue and loss of control that are managed through cocaine, which extends alertness and enables intimate conversation into the morning. The article concludes that neither rural conditions nor substance effects can be assumed in advance; both are produced through specific arrangements and vary across situations.