| Project Detail |
Exploring madness and literature in Europe
Investigating connections between madness and literature, the first-person experience in the literary production of psychiatric survivors in Europe has been largely overlooked. Due to this gap, the potential for understanding subjectivities through autobiographical texts has been disregarded. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the MadLit project aims to illuminate marginalised voices and experiences. It will analyse autobiographical texts of psychiatric survivors to uncover a possible epistemology. Drawing from diverse disciplines, MadLit pioneers the fusion of literary analysis with the field of mad studies, promising to unveil the intricate tapestry of subjectivities. Focusing on comparative literature, with special attention to German-language works spanning the last centuries, the project challenges historic silences and advocates for the recognition of subaltern narratives.
This MSCA Fellowship is a deeply personal project tied to my firsthand experience. This project delves into my previous lines of research, focused on subaltern experience and contemporary autobiographical modes, the construction of subjectivities through narrativity, and the use of archives in shaping personal narratives. MadLit is designed to transform the paradigm in which madness and literature authored by psychiatrized subjects are examined, thereby contributing to the field of Mad Studies from an embodied knowledge.
Mad Studies is a relatively unexplored field in Europe, though it has gained some traction in other countries such as Canada, where it focuses on studying the experiences, history, and culture of individuals identifying as psychiatric survivors. However, this methodology has not yet been applied to literary production. This will be the first project entirely centered on creating an epistemology to psychiatrized subjects through their autobiographical texts. Additionally, I will delve into the theoretical analysis of the autobiographical, examining it from two perspectives: the historical, as a key genre for bourgeois subjects in the 19th century, and also as a contemporary vehicle for the subaltern voices.
To achieve this, I will divide the project into three parts. Firstly, I will analyze first-person literary texts, with special attention to German-language literature from the 19th to the 21st century, in order to trace the current state of the emancipatory struggle of psychiatrized subjects in Europe. Secondly, I will study the use of narrativity in the mad activism to demonstrate its potential as a productive element of subjectivity. Lastly, my third objective will be to engage with my own experience of psychiatrization, allowing me to narrate it using the acquired tools. In embarking on this journey, my aspiration is to challenge a historical debt to those whose voices have long awaited to be heard. |
