Mad Studies: Mental Illness Under Systems of Oppression [6-weeks, $250 Suggested]
Instructor: Andrews | Wednesdays July 20-August 24 | 7:30-9:30 PM ET
Where exactly is the dividing line between sanity and madness, and who gets to decide which side we’re on? In his formative historiographic account of madness, Michel Foucault situates mental illness not in the realm of the biological or scientific, but squarely within culture. And, as sociologist and anthropologists of mental health have noted, both the expression of mental illness and the suffering associated with it vary widely in different cultures and societies, with the greatest suffering often corresponding to national wealth, not poverty. Mad Studies begins from the premise that those who are deemed “reasonable” have for far too long held the stick by which to measure those deemed “unreasonable.” What can we learn from people called “mad,” “crazy,” “nuts,” “depressed,” and “hysterical”? As it turns out, by listening to the voices of those cast-out from “reasonable” society, we can see how ideas about health and madness have much more to do with the value systems of patriarchy and racial capitalism than with any fundamental truth about mental health. Over the course of six weeks, we’ll read foundational texts in Mad Studies, and track the ways in which race, class, gender, and sexuality have been pathologized in order to depoliticize and disempower, and simultaneously attempt to imagine paths to liberation that might be found in the different, errant, irrational, or nonsensical of madness. Texts will range across philosophy, literature, anthropology, psychiatry, film, and music, and authors and artists will include: Michel Foucault, Stefania Pandolfo, Frantz Fanon, R.D. Laing, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Margaret Price, Gayl Jones, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, La Marr Jurelle Bruce, and Tennessee Williams, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, among others.
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For each class, four (4) full tuition scholarships and five (5) 80% tuition scholarships are available. Direct student donations are a crucial aspect of our funding model, and without them, we are not able to pay instructors a living wage. We encourage you to pick the payment tier that corresponds with your needs, but ask that you please consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.
If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.