Mad Studies and Mad-Positive Music

Abstract

In this paper I unpack how Mad‐positive music may disrupt pathogizing mental‐health discourses and affirm Mad subjectivities. I draw on the field of Mad Studies to discuss how Mad‐positive music recognizes the subjugated knowledge(s) of self‐identifying Mad persons, troubles the dominance of psy‐disciplinary knowledge(s), and opens complex Mad‐positive spaces. I empirically draw on Mad musicians’ lyrical work to demonstrate how Mad music may be epistemologically‐dissonant with dominant mental health biomedical paradigms that pathologically root mental illness in individuals. Lastly, I suggest that Mad‐positive music inserts Mad counter knowledge(s), complex radical narratives, and draws directly on Mad persons’ lived experiences in ways that offer new pedagogical insights into contemporary mental‐health systemic practices.

Silence or Sanism: A Review of the Dearth of Discussions on Mental Illness in Adult Education

“…In CASAE, eleven conference papers meeting the search term criteria were identified. Three of these papers were located with the key word 'depression' in title, authored by Cameron (; 2014a; 2012); two explored the pedagogy of Mad‐positive music (Castrodale, ) and deployed Mad Studies and CDS lenses to contrive critical disability curricula (Castrodale, 2015). Other papers dealt with topics ranging from supported adult literacy programs for neurodivergent learners (Fernando & King, ); music therapy for diminishing distress originating in cancer diagnoses (Rykov, ); decentering military trauma from psy‐constructions to a community‐centric approach (Spring, ); bolstering women's mental health through family literacy (Prins et al, ); structural violence against students in crises (Fernando, ); and, semi‐professional education for addictions and mental health counselors (Graham, ).…”

“…Asylums promoted conviviality between inmates and staff bringing them together as an ensemble in musical production (Park & Hamilton, ). Music, namely, was a "way to normatively (re)align 'mentally ill' subject's thoughts and conduct" (Castrodale, , p. 39). Mad patients compose "songs with agency, to resist being pathologized", and use music as a conduit through which their ways of being in the world, expressions, and knowledge(s) are shared (Castrodale, , p. 38).…”

“…Music, namely, was a "way to normatively (re)align 'mentally ill' subject's thoughts and conduct" (Castrodale, , p. 39). Mad patients compose "songs with agency, to resist being pathologized", and use music as a conduit through which their ways of being in the world, expressions, and knowledge(s) are shared (Castrodale, , p. 38). In a different vein, psycho‐oncologists prescribe cancer patients music therapy to lessen underlying stress‐related symptoms originating in one's cancer diagnosis (Rykov, ).…”

“…Two authors mentioned Mad Studies by name, Castrodale (2015; ) and Cameron () signaling that Mad Studies is still an inchoate discipline. Some authors advocated outright support for the social model of mental illness (e.g., Piggot & Houghton ; Ross, ; and, Fernando, ).…”

Lunacy and (M)adult Learning: Restoring Voice to the Mad Through Adult Education

“…The pieces in this issue suppose how we as adult educators can transition the mad‐minded from the cold, closed confines of the asylum to an equitable environment where they are heard and their knowledge(s) can be shared. Recognizing that those in unsane states of mind struggle to reclaim their voices on their own, this special issue attests that there are dedicated mad‐positive allies (see Castrodale, ), mad people’s historians (see Reaume, ), and fellow mental health consumers (allies in madness) (see Procknow, ) wanting to help and to bring about educational change that expands the universities’ capacity to be mad‐positive and accepting of psychic difference. The authors are not asking for campuses to become asylums housing the most ‘deranged’ and ‘violent’ minds.…”