2003 Mad People's History

[Guest guest]

Mad People's History 2003

Please forward

Psychiatric survivor & historian Geoffrey Reaume is again giving a

unique

course titled MAD PEOPLE'S HISTORY -

Mad People's History

DST/CDST 503

Ryerson University, School of Disability Studies

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Friday, 1 - 4 PM, East Kerr Hall, Room E118A

January 17 - April 25, 2003

Course Description

This course will provide an overview of the history of madness from

the

point of view of people who were, and are, deemed mad from ancient

times to

the present. The term " mad-people " refers to any person who was

considered insane, or seriously mentally disturbed, by their

contemporaries. This includes people who were confined in institutions

and

people who remained in the community. Different terms throughout

history,

like " mad people, " will be discussed for what it says about the

individuals

who used this language, and about the people these terms are meant to

describe. Accounts by mad-people will be examined from a variety of

sources, primarily in the form of written narratives. There will also

be

references to first-person perspectives of madness in paintings,

theatre,

films and poetry. Gender, race, class and ability will be discussed

throughout the course, with one week devoted to an overview of how

these

factors have influenced first-person accounts. The purpose of this

course

is to place the diverse perspectives of people who have been diagnosed

as

mad, insane or mentally ill as being of central importance in the

history

of psychiatry and to address the question: how has madness been viewed

by

mad-people over the centuries?

1) January 17: Introduction: Why History from the Perspectives of Mad

People?

2) January 24: Folly and Fools, Mad People and Mad Houses: Madness

from

Ancient Times to Early First-Person Accounts during the 17th and 18th

Centuries

3) January 31: The Rise of Public Insane Asylums and First-Person

Accounts

During the 19th Century

4) February 7: Gender, Sexual Orientation and First-Person Accounts of

Madness

5) February 14: Race, Colonialism and Class in Mad People's History -

Guest

Speaker: Caroline Fei-Yeng Kwok, author of " The Tormented Mind: A True

Story of Manic Depression " (2000) will speak on cultural barriers and

her

personal experience with mental health services.

6) February 21: Eugenics and the Persecution of People Labeled

'Mentally

Defective' in Europe and North America, 1880-1972 - Film: " The

Sterilization of Leilani Muir " (NFB, 1996) or " Selling Murder: The

Killing

Films of the Third Reich " (Britain, 1992).

7) March 7: Ethical Dilemmas in Mad People's History: Abuse, Violence

and

Individual Responsibility - Guest Speaker: Chambers,

Empowerment

Coordinator, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will speak on

advocacy

issues and abuse.

8) March 14: Psychiatric Patients' Labour During the 19th and 20th

Centuries - Film: " Working Like Crazy " (Skyworks, 1999)

9) March 21: Activism by Psychiatric Patients, Consumers and

Survivors,

1845-2000. Guest Speaker: Mel Starkman, Archivist and Activist will

speak

on why his experiences as a psychiatric patient made him an activist.

10) March 28: Butterfly Wards and Soul Survivors: First Person

Accounts of

Madness in Canada since the 1970s

11) April 4: Making the