Mad Studies and Mad-Positive Music

In this paper I unpack how Mad-positive music may disrupt pathogizing mental-health discourses and affirm Mad subjectivities. I draw on the field of Mad Studies to discuss how Mad-positive music recognizes the subjugated knowledge(s) of self-identifying Mad persons, troubles the dominance of psy-disciplinary knowledge(s), and opens complex Mad-positive spaces. I empirically draw on Mad musicians' lyrical work to demonstrate how Mad music may be epistemologically-dissonant with dominant mental health biomedical paradigms that pathologically root mental illness in individuals. Lastly, I suggest that Mad-positive music inserts Mad counter knowledge(s), complex radical narratives, and draws directly on Mad persons' lived experiences in ways that offer new pedagogical insights into contemporary mental-health systemic practices.