Libertad en tolueno. Una experiencia de nacer, crecer, vivir y sobrevivir en la calle

This thesis explores the body of a young woman from the street in the experience of solvent consumption, from her birth to her evolution in street life. Six chapters are presented, beginning with Libertad’s life story and giving way to chapter two, which discusses physical anthropology and bodily experience. Chapter three explores the phenomenon of street life and talks about drug use. The methodological strategy is discussed, where life history, field observations, multi-sited ethnography and a set of psychometric and neuropsychological tests are compiled, all to reconstruct the person-body experience. The fifth chapter recounts the analysis of the life experience and the results of the above-mentioned tests. In the sixth chapter, some important topics of analysis are addressed, such as: street work, the interaction of psychology with physical anthropology, can inhalants be considered a drug? and what is the role of social research in civil society. This issue is underpinned by complex social and cultural processes, which prevent people born on the streets from accessing the healthcare system before they are born.