Medieval mysticism to schizoaffective disorder: the repositioning of subjectivity in the discourse of psychiatry

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Utilising the scholarship of Foucault and Bakhtin, this chapter explores European understandings to unusual experiences pre and post-Enlightenment. Drawing on the first-hand narrative of Margery Kempe (@1373-1438), the chapter examines how unusual behaviours are defined through dominant paradigms of understanding in each period- firstly, using cultural-religious understandings, and secondly framed as early examples of psychosis following the advent of psychiatry. With the experiencing subject embedded in time, space and a network of human relations that are all pivotal to the validation of human experience, the chapter argues that the search for meaning should take precedence over concerns regarding categorisation.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationRoutledge International Handbook of Critical Mental Health
    EditorsBruce Cohen
    Place of PublicationLondon
    PublisherRoutledge
    Pages126-132
    Number of pages7
    Edition1
    ISBN (Electronic)9781315399584
    ISBN (Print)9781138225473
    Publication statusPublished - 28 Sept 2017

    Publication series

    NameRoutledge International Handbooks
    PublisherRoutledge

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