Mad Matters: A Critical Reader in Canadian Mad Studies - Softcover

Brenda A. LeFrançois (editor), Robert Menzies (editor) D180

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551305348 ISBN 13: 9781551305349

Publisher: Canadian Scholars, 2013

Synopsis

In 1981, Toronto activist Mel Starkman wrote: "An important new movement is sweeping through the western world.... The 'mad,' the oppressed, the ex-inmates of society's asylums are coming together and speaking for themselves."

Mad Matters is the first Canadian book to bring together the writings of this vital movement, which has grown explosively in the years since. With contributions from scholars in numerous disciplines, as well as activists and psychiatric survivors, it presents diverse critical voices that convey the lived experiences of the psychiatrized and challenges dominant understandings of "mental illness." The connections between mad activism and other liberation struggles are stressed throughout, making the book a major contribution to the literature on human rights and anti-oppression.

About this title

Review:

"This book carves out the terrain of a vital and robust new field of study and makes clear its many points of connection to lived experiences of madness, activist movements, and related scholarly disciplines. The writing in Mad Matters comes from diverse personal and scholarly perspectives, and covers an impressive range of relevant topics, yet it all consistently advances the volume's goal of explaining and demonstrating the scope and radical significance of Mad Studies. In short, the anthology is delightfully readable and theoretically rich." - Joanne Woiak, University of Washington

About the Author:

Brenda A. LeFrancois is Associate Professor of Social Work at Memorial University of Newfoundland.Robert Menzies is Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University.Geoffrey Reaume is Associate Professor of Critical Disability Studies at York University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canadian Scholars
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1551305348
• ISBN 13: 9781551305349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408