| Explores histories of madness in a global perspective from early modern madhouses to present day mass incarceration. Madness is a universal feature of human history; every society, past and present, has addressed it. And yet it remains one of the most stigmatizing forms of illness and disability. The course considers both the great range of ideas about madness and efforts to treat and contain it in various historical contexts. Students approach histories of madness from a critical disability perspective to include the experiences of people deemed 'mad.' Histories of madness are examined in relation to histories of race, gender, class, and disability, as well as medicine, science, religion, and capitalism. Topics include community and grassroots understandings of madness, madhouses, asylums and institutional treatment, psychiatric care and rehabilitation, addiction and recovery, advocacy, activism, and rights. |
