social justice mental health cfp

8/9/2019 Social Justice Mental Health CFP

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Call for Papers

Special Issue of Studies in Social Justice

Mental Health as Social Justice Issue: Beyond Psychocentrism

Edited by: Lacey Croft (York University), Mandi Gray (York University) and Dr. Heidi

Rimke (University of Winnipeg).

Summary of Topic:

This special edition of Studies in Social Justice seeks to critically explore the complex

relationship between social injustice and the pathologization of individuals. In order to

do so, focus will be placed on critical approaches to understanding the power of medicine

and psychiatry in modern society. The now commonly held view that some people are

ab/normal is the consequence and reflection of the growing cultural authority of the

human sciences in everyday life. The dominance of the pathological approach can be

seen in what Ian Marsh (2010) has referred to as “the compulsory ontology of pathology,” and what Heidi Rimke has critiqued as “psychocentrism,” the view that all

human problems are due to a flaw in the bodies/minds/psyches of individuals (Rimke,

2000, 2003, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2011, 2014; Rimke & Hunt, 2002; Rimke & Brock,

2012).

Drawing upon the concept of psychocentrism, this special edition will problematize and

critique the pathological approach by interrogating the increasing medicalization and

psychiatrization of human life. Thus, this special issue seeks to link private troubles with

public issues (Mills, 1959) by considering the ways in which the pathological approach to

human problems has become the dominant model within popular culture and the academyalike.

The question of mental and emotional health/illness will be examined within critical

theoretical frameworks that seek to interrogate the medical and psychiatric models of the

human sciences broadly conceived. Papers in this special issue will explore how the

growth of ‘psy’ discourses has become a cornerstone of contemporary Western society.

We argue that the proliferation of psychocentrism should be understood within a broader

political framework of neoliberalism that hyperresponsibilizes the modern individual as

the source of one’s own suffering (and redemption). Such imagery and representations

do not only circulate in academic departments they also form research programmes for

industry, guides for a variety of institutions, and inform governmental policies.

Representations of madness or mental illness have long been a staple of popular cultural

media seen in a barrage of movies, documentaries, magazines, fiction and non-fiction

books, television shows, newspaper articles and internet sites. The discourses are so

taken-for-granted today that it has become compulsory to think of human others as

‘normal’ or ‘abnormal.’



The objective of this issue is thus to examine mental health and illness as a social justice

issue by examining social rather than individual deficits. Articles in this issue will shift

the focus and analysis from pathological individualism to social relations, social

structure, social systems, social practices, social organization, and so forth, as

inextricably intertwined human struggle, suffering and pain. We thus welcome papers

that utilize critical conceptual frameworks that may include, but are not limited to, post-structural, as well as, feminist, anti-capitalist, post-colonial and critical race theory.

Topics may include:

! historical and/or cross-cultural differences in conceptions of normal and

abnormal

! the historical sociology of psychiatric institutions

! discourses of mental disease and/or addiction

! criminalization, the courts, corrections

! pathologizing resistance

!racism and mental health

! the political economy and critique of the mental illness and/or

psychopharmaceutical industry

! gender, class, ethnicity, age, sexuality and mental health

! bullying and social control

! social factors and stressors contributing to mental and emotional problems,

! mad pride and the experience of psychiatric survivors and patients

! the mental health crisis of prisoners

! anti-psychiatry literature (Cooper, Laing, Guatarri, Sedgewick, etc)

! the DSM and social construction of mental pathology

!

the organization and effectiveness of treatment programs! human rights and psychiatric abuses

! mental/emotional health as a social justice issue

! alternatives to psychocentric treatment models

! neoliberalism and self-help practices and discourses

! the stigma and representation of mental health/illness in popular culture

! the sociopolitics of self-harm and suicide

! mental health activism

! medical marijuana and PTSD

! radical trauma work

! discourses of dis/ability

! death, dying, grief and mental health

Length:

Articles should be approximately 6,000 words in length (not including references).



Publishing Schedule:

! March 6, 2015: deadline for proposals (350-500 word abstract)

! April 6, 2015: notification of acceptance

! July 15, 2015: deadline for first drafts (articles are subject to a double

blind peer review process)

Submission:

Authors are invited to submit a 350-500 word abstract for consideration including

author’s affiliations, contact information, and brief biography by email to the guest

editors:

Lacey Croft, York University, Department of Sociology, [email protected]

Mandi Gray, York University, Department of Sociology, [email protected]

Heidi Rimke, University of Winnipeg, Department of Sociology,[email protected]

About the Journal:

Studies in Social Justice publishes articles on issues dealing with the social, cultural,

economic, political, and philosophical problems associated with the struggle for social

justice. This interdisciplinary journal aims to publish work that links theory to social

change and the analysis of substantive issues. The journal welcomes heterodox

contributions that are critical of established paradigms of inquiry.

The journal focuses on debates that move beyond conventional notions of social justice,and views social justice as a critical concept that is integral in the analysis of policy

formation, rights, participation, social movements, and transformations. Social justice is

analysed in the context of processes involving nationalism, social and public policy,

globalization, diasporas, culture, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, welfare, poverty, war, and

other social phenomena. It endeavours to cover questions and debates ranging from

governance to democracy, sustainable environments, and human rights, and to introduce

new work on pressing issues of social justice throughout the world.

Website: http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ

mailto:[email protected]


http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ

http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/index.php/SSJ







References:

Marsh, I. (2010). Suicide: Foucault, history and truth. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rimke, H. (2014). Promoting anthropophobia and misanthrophilia: The violent

extremism risk assessment (VERA) as case study. In J. Shantz

(Ed.), Manufacturing Phobias. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Rimke, H. (2011). The pathological approach to crime: Individually based theories. In

K. Kramar (Ed.), Criminology: Critical Canadian Perspectives (pp.

78-92). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.

Rimke, H. (2010c). Remembering the sociological imagination: Transdisciplinarity, thegenealogical method, and epistemological politics. International Journal of

Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5( 1 ), 239-254.

Rimke, H. (2010b). Beheading aboard a Greyhound bus: Security politics, bloodlust

justice, and the mass consumption of criminalized cannibalism. The Annual

Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, 1, 172-192.

Rimke, H. (2010a). Consuming fears: Neoliberal in/securities, cannibalization, and

psychopolitics. In J. Shantz (Ed.), Racism and Borders: Representation,

Repression, Resistance (pp. 95-113). New York: Algora Publishing.

Rimke, H. (2003). Constituting transgressive interiorities: C19th psychiatric readings of

Morally Mad Bodies. In A. Arturo (Ed.), Violence and the Body: Race, Gender

and the State (pp. 403-428). Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Rimke, H. (2000). Governing citizens through self-help literature. Cultural Studies,

14( 1 ), 61-78.

Rimke, H., & Brock, D. (2012). The culture of therapy: Psychocentrism in everyday

life. In M. Thomas, R. Raby and D. Brock (Eds.), Power and Everyday

Practices (pp. 182-202). Toronto: Nelson.

Rimke, H., & Hunt, A. (2002). From sinners to degenerates: The medicalization of

morality in the C19th. History of the Human Sciences, 15( 1 ), 59-88.



Recommended Readings:

Rimke, H. (2012). Securing injustice: The psychocriminalization of resistance as

‘political violent extremism.’ The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice

Research, 3, 26-39.

Rimke, H. (2002). From sinners to degenerates: The medicalization of morality in the

C19th. History of the Human Sciences, 15(1), 59-88.

Ryan, W. (2004). The art of savage discovery: Blaming the victim. In L. Heldke and P.

O’Connor (Eds.), Oppression, Privilege and Resistance: Theoretical Perspectives

on Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism (pp. 275-285). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

social justice mental health cfp

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