Key Terms

    • Madness as Multi-Dimensional Energy: The qualities and essence of madness are an external source of multi-dimensional energy that moves in, around, and out of our current reality, moving through our physical bodies, leaving shimmers, traces, hauntings, shadows, memories, imprints on the human body.

    • New Framework for Understanding Madness: To witness madness more fully, we must adopt a new framework, create a new discourse, and construct a new way of feeling with, learning, and teaching how to love as an overarching necessity to sustainable justice movements with an emphasis on loving madness, mad experiences, and mad peoples.

  • Reason is a proper noun denoting a positivist, secularist, Enlightenment-rooted episteme purported to uphold objective “truth” while mapping and mastering the world.” LaMarr Jurelle Bruce provides us with four distinctive categories of madness:  

    • phenomenal madness: “an intense unruliness of mind—producing fundamental crises of perception, emotion, meaning, and selfhood—as experienced in the consciousness of the mad subject” 

    • medicalized madness: “encompasses a range of “serious mental illness” and psychopathologies codified by the ‘psy’ sciences”

    • rage: “an affective state of intense aggressive displeasure”

    • psychological madness: “radical deviation from the normal within a given psycho-normative status quo is liable to be labeled crazy”.


    [1] La Marr Jurelle Bruce, How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity (Durham Duke University Press, 2021).

    • Neo-mad(ness) reimagines mental health by embracing the diverse lived experiences of those labeled as 'mad' within today’s complex social, cultural, and historical contexts.

    • Critical compassion is at its core, challenging traditional medical ethics and questioning outdated, colonial-era definitions of sanity and rationality.

    • Personal identity is viewed as fluid and evolving, with a focus on creating meaning and building worlds through individual and collective perspectives.

    • Community-building is essential, fostering shared understanding and collaborative efforts to create a more inclusive and empathetic approach to mental health.

    • In the era of 'techno-feudalism,' Neo-mad(ness) seeks to disrupt the intertwining of technology and power structures with a love-centric, justice-oriented mindset.

    • Discourse shapes how society talks about and understands mental health, focusing on reason, compassion, and the ways we think about madness and trauma.

    • Mad discourse challenges traditional mental health narratives by centering the voices and experiences of those who identify as Mad, rejecting standard psychiatric norms and clinical diagnoses.

    • This approach promotes self-expression and personal agency, shifting the conversation from disempowering to empowering narratives, and embracing the diverse cultural, racial, gender, and social factors influencing mental health.

    • Mad discourse confronts the power structures in traditional mental health that perpetuate exclusion and stigma, advocating for a more inclusive, humane understanding of mental health.

    • Neo-mad discourse builds on these principles, emphasizing love, solidarity, and empathy while celebrating creative, non-linear expressions of identity and experience within the Mad community.

    • Mad pedagogy is an educational approach that frees how we think about madness, breaking down traditional views on mental health to elevate the experiences and voices often overlooked.

    • It centers on storytelling, radical honesty, and community sharing, creating an environment where people can deeply explore and redefine the concept of madness.

    • The method emphasizes care and radical love, promoting collective healing and empowering individuals to challenge oppressive systems for meaningful change.

    • Mad pedagogy is about liberating minds, destabilizing conventional knowledge to encourage critical thinking and recognize the complexities of madness.

    • It fosters radical empathy and solidarity, urging people to confront their biases, question assumptions, and embrace diverse experiences through reflective practice.

    • Ultimately, mad pedagogy invites a transformative journey to unlearn and relearn, disrupting norms to create a more compassionate and inclusive society.

    • Mad methodology rejects simplistic labels of madness, neither vilifying, romanticizing, nor patronizing mad individuals, but rather embracing their complexity and variability.

    • This approach is essential for cultivating a pedagogy of love, which promotes social transformation by challenging traditional reasoning and valuing diverse experiences.

    • Mad methodology enriches our understanding of madness, viewing it as a source of creativity and connection, and challenging the dominance of conventional reason.

    • Love flourishes within this framework, transcending restrictive norms and fostering inclusivity, empathy, and deeper human connections.

    • This methodology fosters a community where each person's experience of madness is acknowledged and valued, celebrating individual autonomy and confronting restrictive norms.

    • The "methodology of mad love" expands the concept of love, using it as a tool to address social injustices and drive change, emphasizing compassion, respect, and emotional intelligence.

    • This approach faces challenges due to the dehumanization embedded in colonization and oppression, particularly against people of color, where shared moral ground is often assumed but not recognized by those in power.

    • Mad methodology and mad love work together to dismantle these barriers, fostering a community of empathy and inclusion where love and acceptance are tangible realities.

    • Neo-mad love praxis reshapes our understanding of mental health and emotional well-being, blending deep understanding with interdisciplinary research and social justice.

    • This approach promotes empathy and empowerment, urging society to support and validate all individuals, regardless of their mental health experiences.

    • It integrates insights from various fields like psychiatry, cultural studies, and social sciences to create a more comprehensive view of mental health.

    • The praxis uplifts the voices of those with lived experiences, advocating for their rights and challenging stigma and marginalization.

    • By adopting neo-mad love praxis, we commit to a movement that celebrates the full spectrum of human emotion and experience, fostering a more inclusive, caring, and just society.

    • It's a call to action to see love and understanding as essential to our collective well-being.

Theory/Ideology

  • The project, Madly In Love, documents and archives mad love letters as public/private ‘speech acts’ through language: physical, oral, vibratory, visual, and sonic. It disseminates mad knowledge, history, and culture while working towards creating a neo-mad community founded on critical compassion and love and exploring the many possibilities of madness.

    • Radical Act of Resistance: Dreaming of a neo-mad community that values and embraces the experiences of the Mad is both a radical act of resistance and a celebration of unknowing.

    • Cultural Wealth and Knowledge: By recognizing the unique cultural wealth and individual funds of knowledge within this community, we move towards a future where madness is no longer a source of shame or isolation but a source of pride and empowerment.

    • Social Transformation: In the pursuit of social transformation towards a neo-mad community, a renegotiation of both personal and social identities is imperative, which calls individuals toward a rigorous self-examination, urging a critical interrogation of disability, mental health, recovery, and ableism.

    • Love as a Central Force: Acknowledging the necessity for a re-imagined narrative demands a collective commitment and concerted action of love–a communal action to center love in all action.

    • Integral to Social Justice: Love is integral to the creation and sustainability of the neo-mad community: social justice, encouraging empathy, inspiring action, building solidarity, and creating an inclusive and fluid community.

    • Dismantling Colonial Powers: Neo-mad love is a way to dismantle Western colonial powers to create space for new and imagined futures where Mad peoples and all oppressed peoples can dream anew.

    • Shared Experiences: A community rooted in shared experiences of madness. The essence of the Madly In Love Project is a calling home. We constitute each other's native soil, urging us to channel our affective orientations toward one another.

    • Investing in Each Other: We are each other’s homeland and must invest our love and efforts/acts of love into each other.

    • Radical Social Justice: We have a responsibility to care for each other, offering new possibilities. We hold others in their most vulnerable, most wounded states, and with that comes great obligation to care. To care for others is fundamentally a radical act of social justice.

    • Community of Love and Madness: In the words of bell hooks, "there is no better classroom for cultivating the art of love than within a community". However, we find ourselves lacking both a community of love and a community embracing madness.

    • Survival and Self-Love: Seeking connection with other Mad individuals has become a means of survival and an endeavor to cultivate self-love.

    • Conscious Spaces for Healing: We must build the capacity to have conscious spaces to heal and be witnessed outside of the medical model.

    • Centering Madness: We must start to include and center madness and Mad people’s epistemology and embodied experiences.

    • Madness is deeply embedded in societal values, norms, and power dynamics, reflecting the historical and social contexts of its time.

    • It is continually reshaped within cultural narratives, influenced by literature, art, media, and language, and is often romanticized or stigmatized based on prevailing attitudes.

    • Social interactions and institutional regulations like psychiatry and the legal system define and manage madness, often viewing it as deviant or pathological.

    • Power and inequality are central to the experience of madness, with marginalized groups frequently facing exclusion and discrimination through psychiatric interventions.

    • Cultural products like love letters offer intimate insights into personal narratives of madness, revealing internal dialogues and how individuals construct their identities in relation to it.

    • These love letters provide a personal perspective that contrasts with dominant cultural narratives, highlighting the deep connection between madness and our inner lives.

  • The neo-mad community draws from "communities of practice" (CoP) to foster collective learning and wisdom-sharing, likened to a tribe navigating survival together.

    Within this community, affect, or deep emotional experience, plays a key role in shaping interactions and fostering a sense of belonging and identity around neo-madness.

    Affect, or deep emotional experience, is central, shaping interactions and fostering a sense of belonging and identity, particularly around the concept of madness.

    • Shared Domain of Interest: The neo-mad community connects over a common exploration of the complexities of madness, creating a space where members engage deeply with issues related to mental health, stigma, and identity.

    • Mutual Learning Relationships: Within this community, relationships are built on mutual learning and support, counteracting isolation by fostering connections that value each member’s personal experiences and wisdom around madness.

    • Active Participation in Practice: Members of the neo-mad community are active participants, translating theoretical insights into tangible actions that empower both individuals and the collective. These practices challenge existing systems and ideologies, promoting inclusion, autonomy, and transformative change.

    Wenger, E. (2011). Communities of practice: A brief introduction.

Epistemology

  • The Mad Liberation Movement honors Indigenous and Native epistemologies, recognizing their importance in anti-colonial frameworks and cultural wealth:

    Decolonizing Madness: Challenging Eurocentric models and embracing diverse cultural understandings.

    Valuing Indigenous Wisdom: Integrating traditional knowledge and holistic approaches to madness and mental health.

    Centering Indigenous Voices: Ensuring Indigenous leadership and representation in advocacy and decision-making.

  • Black feminism provides a transformative framework:

    Intersectionality: Addressing the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression.

    Empowerment and Agency: Amplifying the voices and stories of those with lived experiences of madness.

    Community and Solidarity: Building strong, supportive networks for mutual support and collective action.

    Resistance to Oppression: Actively resisting all forms of oppression that marginalize individuals with madness.

    • Critical love centers on the belief that each person is the expert of their own life, deserving the primary role in decisions about their personal experiences, emphasizing respect for individual sovereignty.

    • This approach advocates for meeting people where they are, extending empathy and understanding without judgment, and fostering inclusivity and unity among diverse and marginalized groups.

    • A mad love methodology prioritizes empathy and active listening, essential skills for nurturing understanding and fostering love in our interactions.

    • It encourages deep, respectful dialogues with people from varied backgrounds, striving to understand their experiences and perspectives, and recognizing the inherent worth of all individuals.

    • Critical love fosters a compassionate and just approach by embracing radical compassion, honoring the full humanity of each individual.

    • It commits to justice and accountability, holding systems responsible for harm while advocating for transformative relationships built on trust, respect, and mutual care.

    • Holistic well-being is central, promoting practices that address mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health within the expansive understanding of madness.

    • Such interactions are crucial for dismantling barriers and building connections rooted in understanding, compassion, and justice.

    • Madness is a fluid, dynamic entity that cannot be fully captured by rational or clinical definitions.

    • Love, when centered in our approach to madness, can dismantle fear-based engagement and foster a deeper connection with mad experiences.

    • The colonial legacy has profoundly influenced the way madness is understood and treated, necessitating a decolonizing approach.

    • Madness intersects with various identities, making it crucial to understand it within a broader social, cultural, and political context.

    • The mad body is a site of struggle for visibility, agency, and recognition, challenging societal norms and advocating for inclusion and justice.