Becoming Somebody Else

Blackouts, Addiction, and Agency amongst London’s Homeless

By Joshua Burraway

A study of homelessness and addiction exploring the void of drug-induced blackout and its impact on identity and time.

What does it mean to pursue forms of life not just outside of time, but outside of self? Becoming Somebody Else takes up this question, offering a window into the fragmented and chaotic lives of London’s urban homeless as they drink and drug themselves into blackout. A state-of-being where time, body, agency, and self collapse into a memoryless abyss, the blackout has consistently alluded to a deep anthropological investigation.