Mark Castrodale | Brock University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mark Castrodale

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, Mar 10, 2014

Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies is useful for university students, researc... more Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies is useful for university students, researchers and educators who are interested in understanding and examining issues related to mental health and madness in Canadian and international contexts. Mad Studies is a growing, evolving, multi-voiced and interdisciplinary field of activism, theory, praxis and scholarship. As the authors state, 'Mad Studies can be defined in general terms as a project of inquiry, knowledge production, and political action devoted to the critique and transcendence of psy-centred ways of thinking, behaving, relating, and being' (13). This book details the history, perspectives, struggles and activist pursuits of Mad people in Canadian contexts. It discusses madness in relation to the dominance of medical models and asserts a need for the voices and knowledge of Mad people/mental health service users, consumers, survivors, ex-patients (c/s/x) to develop a platform for critiquing biomedical-psychiatric-clinical-power-knowledge systems. It is written for academic scholars, researchers, policy developers, activists and allies interested in mental health and Mad-related issues. Additionally, this book can be extended to anyone with interest in critically examining mental health issues in society. The book has 23 chapters and is divided into five parts. Part I: Mad people's history, evolving culture and language; Part II: Mad engagements; Part III: Critiques of psychiatry: practice and pedagogy; Part IV: Law, public policy and media madness; and Part V: Social justice, madness and identity politics. Part I offers an overview of the historical and contemporary significance of the Mad people's movement in Canadian and international contexts. Concepts such as psychological oppression, asylums as instruments of social control, survivor activism, c/s/x narratives, language politics, resistance to domination and critical community formation are discussed. The role of social actors and activists is highlighted in challenging conventional medicalizing paradigms and discourses of mental illness and psychiatric power to expose 'systemic and symbolic violence' at the core of the psychiatric system (3). The Mad people's movement is also connected to intersecting experiences of gender, race, poverty, class, sexuality and disability. Part II examines the epistemic fissures between psychiatric power and Mad activism to discuss psychiatrization as a form of epistemic violence where 'certain persons or groups within society are disqualified as legitimate knowers at a structural level through various institutional processes and practices' (123). The lived experiences of psychiatric survivors are highlighted using narrative and biographical accounts to discuss issues such as Mad grief as a way to contest medicalization of bereavement. Experiences of coercion,

A Critical Discussion on Disabled Subjects: Examining Ableist and Militarist Discourses in Education

Gendered Militarism in Canada, Dec 1, 2015

Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I ... more Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I outline the field of Critical Disability Studies to unpack intersections of disability and gender. I theorize militarism, gender, and disability, and discuss pedagogies of possibility to counter ableism and sanism in educational systems and institutions. [Castrodale, M.A. (2015). A critical discussion on disabled subjects: Examining ableist and militarist discourses in education. In Learning Gendered Militarism. Nancy Taber (Ed.). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta Press]

AbstractIn this article, we explore power relations in space by examining how the intersections o... more AbstractIn this article, we explore power relations in space by examining how the intersections of gender and disability are discursively represented in washroom signage. To do so, we analyze various washroom signs found in public spaces and airports that the authors encountered in their travels in North America, Hawaii, and Europe and how they depict bodies in spaces, times, and contexts. We discuss dominant discursive representations of gender and disability in relation to constructions of family, caregiving roles, and cultural location. We argue that washroom signs constitute gendered and disabled subjects and mediate their subjectivities. Furthermore, they function to regulate bodies in space, influencing notions of who belongs, who belongs where, and how different bodies are de(valued). Resume Dans cet article, nous explorons les rapports de pouvoir dans differents lieux en examinant la facon dont les intersections du genre et du handicap sont representes dans l’affichage des s...

Dis/abling Androids

Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2015

In Foucault, Power and Education, Ball engages in the practice of self to re-examine his own unde... more In Foucault, Power and Education, Ball engages in the practice of self to re-examine his own understandings and uses of Foucault. In discussing Foucauldian theory, analytic concepts, and related methods of inquiry, the author demonstrates their usefulness in launching critiques of educational processes, institutions, and policies. He considers how Foucault has shaped his thinking about the possibilities and limits of knowing. This book is a valuable resource for students, course instructors, and researchers in the fields of Disability Studies in Education (DSE), education policy, and Critical Disability Studies (CDS), among others. Ball asserts the need for critical, self-reflexive scholarship and suggests avenues of thought for undertaking this endeavour.

“You’re such a good friend”: A woven autoethnographic narrative discussion of disability and friendship in Higher Education

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2015

<span>In this article, the ... more <span>In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After defining friendship and positing it as a kind of fieldwork, the methodological foundations of friendship as method are established (Tillmann-Healy, 2003). The purpose of this narrative woven autoethnographic study is to examine the role of friendship in describing disabling physical and attitudinal access barriers in a university setting. Friendship represents a critical analytic lens through which disabled/nondisabled individuals alike may examine their positions, understandings, regimes of practices, and particular knowledges. Friends —Mark and Dan — discuss their experiences of disablement and reflections on dis/ability. The authors draw from their experiences of friendship and disability in higher education and their allied identities to discuss and examine questions of access, disclosure, and inclusion.</span><br />

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2014

In The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning Tanya Titchkosky offers a thoughtful discus... more In The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning Tanya Titchkosky offers a thoughtful discussion of disability related issues informed conceptually by the field of disability studies. This book is relevant for diverse audiences, scholars, policy makers, students, and anyone interested in examining socio-spatial constitutions of disabled subjects and issues of access. Importantly, Titchkosky discusses disability not as a limit as it is often understood in dominant discourses, but as possibility to reflect on social relations, to appreciate difference, and to imagine lived experiences in new ways. Disability studies as a field is thus positioned within this book as offering onto-epistemological vantages from which one may critique and problematize often unquestioned societal able-bodied norms. Rather than framing disability as an individual problem, Titchkosky argues that disability represents a space to wonder about how people interact in social spaces, times, and contexts in understanding and producing particular cultural meanings of disability. Disability related issues of access are contextually discussed in university settings, yet ideas and topics are applicable to examinations of other societal institutions, systems, policies, and practices. The book is organized into six chapters. In the first chapter, "Introduction: Access as an act of perception," Titchkosky demonstrates that questions of access relate to embodied ways of being in the world. She analytically unpacks social relations between people, organization of the material physical world, and how power relations shape and influence who belongs where and why. According to Titchkosky, "exploring the meanings of access is, fundamentally, the Castrodale, Review of The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning by Tanya Titchkosky CJDS 3.1

Mad matters: a critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies

Disability & Society, 2013

In 1981, Toronto activist Mel Starkman wrote: "An important new movement is sweeping thr... more In 1981, Toronto activist Mel Starkman wrote: "An important new movement is sweeping through the western world.... The 'mad,' the oppressed, the ex-inmates of society's asylums are coming together and speaking for themselves." Mad Matters is the first Canadian book to bring together the writings of this vital movement, which has grown explosively in the years since. With contributions from scholars in numerous disciplines, as well as activists and psychiatric survivors, it presents diverse critical voices that convey the lived experiences of the psychiatrized and challenges dominant understandings of "mental illness." The connections between mad activism and other liberation struggles are stressed throughout, making the book a major contribution to the literature on human rights and anti-oppression. Reviews and Comments "This book is a much needed addition to the field of Disability Studies." Nancy Hansen, University of Manitoba "This reader fills a clear gap in Canadian scholarship. It will, in my view, put Mad Studies 'on the map' and open this important area of study to a much larger audience. It will be particularly useful for senior undergraduate and graduate students but also brings together a disparate body of literature that will be useful to specialists in the field and to those who teach Disabilities, Mad Studies, and Social History." Thomas E. Brown, Mount Royal University

Qualitative Inquiry, 2017

In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile resear... more In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile research methods, specifically go-along interviews. Mobility-oriented qualitative inquiry is a way to examine disabled and Mad persons’ socio-spatial knowledges and study spatial inequalities impacting these persons. I reflect on my own positionality as an able-bodied researcher, while conducting research with self-identifying Mad and disabled research participants. I further discuss the limitations, enabling factors, constraints, and implications of engaging in go-along interviews. Next, I unpack how and why this method at many times was not desired by my research participants in favor of more traditional interview techniques, such as sit-down face-to-face interviews. There is a need to critically (re)consider space and place in research practices in ways that value the often subjugated voices and socio-spatial knowledge(s) of Mad and disabled persons.

In this study I draw on the perspectives and insights of self-identified disabled (n=14) and mad ... more In this study I draw on the perspectives and insights of self-identified disabled (n=14) and mad university students (n=3) at two Ontario universities. The perspectives of disability office workers (n=1) and instructors (n=3) are also included to offer triangulated accounts. I address the following research questions: (i) How are disabled and mad students constituted and represented in Ontario university settings? How do they understand and constitute themselves? (ii) What are mad and disabled students socio-spatial university experiences in relation to issues of access and academic accommodations? I draw theoretically on Foucault and other socio-spatial theorists such as Lefebvre and Soja to consider how university academic accommodations may function as regimes of truths discursively and materially shaping the lives of disabled and Mad students. I sketch cartographies of the present ways disabled and mad students are constituted and come to constitute themselves as disabled subjects. Case study methodology is employed to generate insights into knowledge-power relations shaping disabled and mad subjectivities. This research contributes new knowledge of disablement in university settings with key findings discussing how complex socio-spatial institutional knowledge-power relations shape notions of dis/ability and how disabled students become understood as mis/fits in university settings. This research demonstrates the significance of socio-spatialities in mad and disabled students' lives, attends to how they are perpetually (re)positioned within institutional spaces, how they craft, understand, and forge their own spaces. Mad and disabled students' perspectives offer new ways to think about university governance, disciplinary knowledges, pedagogies, constituting practices, subjectivities, socio-spatial struggle, and horizons of being human.

Mad Studies and Mad-Positive Music

New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 2019

Teaching (with) Dis/ability and Madness

Designing and Instructing Disability Studies and Mad Studies in Education: Reflections on Enacting Critical Pedagogy in Practice

In this research, I use an auto-ethnographic journaling research method (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011) ... more In this research, I use an auto-ethnographic journaling research method (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011) to unpack my experiences designing and instructing Critical Disability Studies (Titchkosky, 2011) in Education (CDSE) and Mad Studies (LeFrancois & Menzies, 2013) in Education (MSE) courses at an Ontario Faculty of Education. CDSE and MSE offer platforms for critique of ableist and sanist individualizing neoliberal educational discourses (LeFancois & Menzies, 2013). I reflect on these experiences in relation to the field of traditional special education. Slee (2004) notes: “The discursive field of special education itself prevents our aspiring teachers from thinking otherwise about the deep structures of disablement” (p.47). Traditional special education largely entails identifying individual characteristics of students with disabilities where: “The goal is to intervene in the most effective ways so that students can achieve as close to ‘normal’ as possible” (p.252). In contrast, the fie...

I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences deve... more I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences developing and teaching critical disability studies (CDS) and Mad studies in university contexts. My intent is to insert CDS and Mad pedagogies into the literature in adult education, where such discourses have been and continue to be absent from critical pedagogy in general and from teacher education more specifically. In this paper, I offer a critique of the absence of CDS and Mad studies ‐ informed approaches and perspectives in critical pedagogy in ways that may inform adult education. CDS and Mad studies can also help us to unpack the often ableist and sanist nature of Canadian teacher education.

International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability: Overcoming Obstacles and Enriching Lives, 2018

This chapter examines the implications of teaching (with) dis/ability and madness in higher educa... more This chapter examines the implications of teaching (with) dis/ability and madness in higher education. Mad and disabled subjects are often missing from inquiry and teaching relating to critical pedagogies. In this chapter, I consider Mad-positive teaching as a political stance that opens ethicoonto-epistem-ological possibilities (Barad, 2007) and contemplate how I enact a scholarly-informed Mad Studies pedagogy through my teaching and course design. Disclosing disability is presented as a pedagogical act linked to enabling pedagogies and a desire to foster an increasingly Madpositive academia. The fields of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) and Mad Studies are shown to offer educational insights that may (re) shape academic curriculum and pedagogy. Subsequently, the chapter surveys pedagogical approaches to accessible teaching and course design, and outlines the need to increasingly draw directly on Mad and disabled student knowledges in this regard. Finally, recommendations are offered for faculty development in relation to inclusive teaching, disability and Mad-positive curriculum, Universal Design for

Abstract In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobi... more Abstract
In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile research methods, specifically go-along interviews. Mobility-oriented qualitative inquiry is a way to examine disabled and Mad persons’ socio-spatial knowledges and study spatial inequalities impacting these persons. I reflect on my own positionality as an able-bodied researcher, while conducting research with self-identifying Mad and disabled research participants. I further discuss the limitations, enabling factors, constraints, and implications of engaging in go-along interviews. Next, I unpack how and why this method at many times was not desired by my research participants in favor of more traditional interview techniques, such as sit-down face-to-face interviews. There is a need to critically (re)consider space and place in research practices in ways that value the often subjugated voices and socio-spatial knowledge(s) of Mad and disabled persons.

Gendered Militarism in Canada, Dec 2015

Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I ... more Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I outline the field of Critical Disability Studies to unpack intersections of disability and gender. I theorize militarism, gender, and disability, and discuss pedagogies of possibility to counter ableism and sanism in educational systems and institutions. [Castrodale, M.A. (2015). A critical discussion on disabled subjects: Examining ableist and militarist discourses in education. In Learning Gendered Militarism. Nancy Taber (Ed.). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta Press]

I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences deve... more I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences developing and teaching critical disability studies (CDS) and Mad studies in university contexts. My intent is to insert CDS and Mad pedagogies into the literature in adult education, where such discourses have been and continue to be absent from critical pedagogy in general and from teacher education more specifically. In this paper, I offer a critique of the absence of CDS and Mad studies‑informed approaches and perspectives in critical pedagogy in ways that may inform adult education. CDS and Mad studies can also help us to unpack the often ableist and sanist nature of Canadian teacher education.

Mes théorisations font appel aux travaux de pédagogues critiques afin d’analyser mes expériences de développement et d’enseignement des études critiques du handicap (« critical disability studies ») et des études de la folie (« mad studies ») en contexte universitaire. Mon intention est d’intégrer les pédagogies de ces deux champs dans les travaux sur l’éducation des adultes, au sein desquels ces discours ont été et continuent d’être absents de la pédagogie critique en général et de la formation du personnel enseignant en particulier. Dans ce texte, j’offre une critique de l’absence, dans la pédagogie critique, d’approches et de perspectives s’inspirant des études critiques du handicap et de la folie qui pourraient contribuer à l’éducation des adultes. Ces champs d’études peuvent aussi nous aider à déconstruire la nature souvent capacitiste et « sain-iste » (« sanist ») de la formation du personnel enseignant au Canada.

In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After definin... more In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After defining friendship and positing it as a kind of fieldwork, the methodological foundations of friendship as method are established (Tillmann-Healy, 2003). The purpose of this narrative woven autoethnographic study is to examine the role of friendship in describing disabling physical and attitudinal access barriers in a university setting. Friendship represents a critical analytic lens through which disabled/nondisabled individuals alike may examine their positions, understandings, regimes of practices, and particular knowledges. Friends —Mark and Dan — discuss their experiences of disablement and reflections on dis/ability. The authors draw from their experiences of friendship and disability in higher education and their allied identities to discuss and examine questions of access, disclosure, and inclusion.

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, Mar 10, 2014

Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies is useful for university students, researc... more Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies is useful for university students, researchers and educators who are interested in understanding and examining issues related to mental health and madness in Canadian and international contexts. Mad Studies is a growing, evolving, multi-voiced and interdisciplinary field of activism, theory, praxis and scholarship. As the authors state, 'Mad Studies can be defined in general terms as a project of inquiry, knowledge production, and political action devoted to the critique and transcendence of psy-centred ways of thinking, behaving, relating, and being' (13). This book details the history, perspectives, struggles and activist pursuits of Mad people in Canadian contexts. It discusses madness in relation to the dominance of medical models and asserts a need for the voices and knowledge of Mad people/mental health service users, consumers, survivors, ex-patients (c/s/x) to develop a platform for critiquing biomedical-psychiatric-clinical-power-knowledge systems. It is written for academic scholars, researchers, policy developers, activists and allies interested in mental health and Mad-related issues. Additionally, this book can be extended to anyone with interest in critically examining mental health issues in society. The book has 23 chapters and is divided into five parts. Part I: Mad people's history, evolving culture and language; Part II: Mad engagements; Part III: Critiques of psychiatry: practice and pedagogy; Part IV: Law, public policy and media madness; and Part V: Social justice, madness and identity politics. Part I offers an overview of the historical and contemporary significance of the Mad people's movement in Canadian and international contexts. Concepts such as psychological oppression, asylums as instruments of social control, survivor activism, c/s/x narratives, language politics, resistance to domination and critical community formation are discussed. The role of social actors and activists is highlighted in challenging conventional medicalizing paradigms and discourses of mental illness and psychiatric power to expose 'systemic and symbolic violence' at the core of the psychiatric system (3). The Mad people's movement is also connected to intersecting experiences of gender, race, poverty, class, sexuality and disability. Part II examines the epistemic fissures between psychiatric power and Mad activism to discuss psychiatrization as a form of epistemic violence where 'certain persons or groups within society are disqualified as legitimate knowers at a structural level through various institutional processes and practices' (123). The lived experiences of psychiatric survivors are highlighted using narrative and biographical accounts to discuss issues such as Mad grief as a way to contest medicalization of bereavement. Experiences of coercion,

A Critical Discussion on Disabled Subjects: Examining Ableist and Militarist Discourses in Education

Gendered Militarism in Canada, Dec 1, 2015

Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I ... more Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I outline the field of Critical Disability Studies to unpack intersections of disability and gender. I theorize militarism, gender, and disability, and discuss pedagogies of possibility to counter ableism and sanism in educational systems and institutions. [Castrodale, M.A. (2015). A critical discussion on disabled subjects: Examining ableist and militarist discourses in education. In Learning Gendered Militarism. Nancy Taber (Ed.). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta Press]

AbstractIn this article, we explore power relations in space by examining how the intersections o... more AbstractIn this article, we explore power relations in space by examining how the intersections of gender and disability are discursively represented in washroom signage. To do so, we analyze various washroom signs found in public spaces and airports that the authors encountered in their travels in North America, Hawaii, and Europe and how they depict bodies in spaces, times, and contexts. We discuss dominant discursive representations of gender and disability in relation to constructions of family, caregiving roles, and cultural location. We argue that washroom signs constitute gendered and disabled subjects and mediate their subjectivities. Furthermore, they function to regulate bodies in space, influencing notions of who belongs, who belongs where, and how different bodies are de(valued). Resume Dans cet article, nous explorons les rapports de pouvoir dans differents lieux en examinant la facon dont les intersections du genre et du handicap sont representes dans l’affichage des s...

Dis/abling Androids

Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2015

In Foucault, Power and Education, Ball engages in the practice of self to re-examine his own unde... more In Foucault, Power and Education, Ball engages in the practice of self to re-examine his own understandings and uses of Foucault. In discussing Foucauldian theory, analytic concepts, and related methods of inquiry, the author demonstrates their usefulness in launching critiques of educational processes, institutions, and policies. He considers how Foucault has shaped his thinking about the possibilities and limits of knowing. This book is a valuable resource for students, course instructors, and researchers in the fields of Disability Studies in Education (DSE), education policy, and Critical Disability Studies (CDS), among others. Ball asserts the need for critical, self-reflexive scholarship and suggests avenues of thought for undertaking this endeavour.

“You’re such a good friend”: A woven autoethnographic narrative discussion of disability and friendship in Higher Education

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2015

<span>In this article, the ... more <span>In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After defining friendship and positing it as a kind of fieldwork, the methodological foundations of friendship as method are established (Tillmann-Healy, 2003). The purpose of this narrative woven autoethnographic study is to examine the role of friendship in describing disabling physical and attitudinal access barriers in a university setting. Friendship represents a critical analytic lens through which disabled/nondisabled individuals alike may examine their positions, understandings, regimes of practices, and particular knowledges. Friends —Mark and Dan — discuss their experiences of disablement and reflections on dis/ability. The authors draw from their experiences of friendship and disability in higher education and their allied identities to discuss and examine questions of access, disclosure, and inclusion.</span><br />

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2014

In The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning Tanya Titchkosky offers a thoughtful discus... more In The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning Tanya Titchkosky offers a thoughtful discussion of disability related issues informed conceptually by the field of disability studies. This book is relevant for diverse audiences, scholars, policy makers, students, and anyone interested in examining socio-spatial constitutions of disabled subjects and issues of access. Importantly, Titchkosky discusses disability not as a limit as it is often understood in dominant discourses, but as possibility to reflect on social relations, to appreciate difference, and to imagine lived experiences in new ways. Disability studies as a field is thus positioned within this book as offering onto-epistemological vantages from which one may critique and problematize often unquestioned societal able-bodied norms. Rather than framing disability as an individual problem, Titchkosky argues that disability represents a space to wonder about how people interact in social spaces, times, and contexts in understanding and producing particular cultural meanings of disability. Disability related issues of access are contextually discussed in university settings, yet ideas and topics are applicable to examinations of other societal institutions, systems, policies, and practices. The book is organized into six chapters. In the first chapter, "Introduction: Access as an act of perception," Titchkosky demonstrates that questions of access relate to embodied ways of being in the world. She analytically unpacks social relations between people, organization of the material physical world, and how power relations shape and influence who belongs where and why. According to Titchkosky, "exploring the meanings of access is, fundamentally, the Castrodale, Review of The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning by Tanya Titchkosky CJDS 3.1

Mad matters: a critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies

Disability & Society, 2013

In 1981, Toronto activist Mel Starkman wrote: "An important new movement is sweeping thr... more In 1981, Toronto activist Mel Starkman wrote: "An important new movement is sweeping through the western world.... The 'mad,' the oppressed, the ex-inmates of society's asylums are coming together and speaking for themselves." Mad Matters is the first Canadian book to bring together the writings of this vital movement, which has grown explosively in the years since. With contributions from scholars in numerous disciplines, as well as activists and psychiatric survivors, it presents diverse critical voices that convey the lived experiences of the psychiatrized and challenges dominant understandings of "mental illness." The connections between mad activism and other liberation struggles are stressed throughout, making the book a major contribution to the literature on human rights and anti-oppression. Reviews and Comments "This book is a much needed addition to the field of Disability Studies." Nancy Hansen, University of Manitoba "This reader fills a clear gap in Canadian scholarship. It will, in my view, put Mad Studies 'on the map' and open this important area of study to a much larger audience. It will be particularly useful for senior undergraduate and graduate students but also brings together a disparate body of literature that will be useful to specialists in the field and to those who teach Disabilities, Mad Studies, and Social History." Thomas E. Brown, Mount Royal University

Qualitative Inquiry, 2017

In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile resear... more In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile research methods, specifically go-along interviews. Mobility-oriented qualitative inquiry is a way to examine disabled and Mad persons’ socio-spatial knowledges and study spatial inequalities impacting these persons. I reflect on my own positionality as an able-bodied researcher, while conducting research with self-identifying Mad and disabled research participants. I further discuss the limitations, enabling factors, constraints, and implications of engaging in go-along interviews. Next, I unpack how and why this method at many times was not desired by my research participants in favor of more traditional interview techniques, such as sit-down face-to-face interviews. There is a need to critically (re)consider space and place in research practices in ways that value the often subjugated voices and socio-spatial knowledge(s) of Mad and disabled persons.

In this study I draw on the perspectives and insights of self-identified disabled (n=14) and mad ... more In this study I draw on the perspectives and insights of self-identified disabled (n=14) and mad university students (n=3) at two Ontario universities. The perspectives of disability office workers (n=1) and instructors (n=3) are also included to offer triangulated accounts. I address the following research questions: (i) How are disabled and mad students constituted and represented in Ontario university settings? How do they understand and constitute themselves? (ii) What are mad and disabled students socio-spatial university experiences in relation to issues of access and academic accommodations? I draw theoretically on Foucault and other socio-spatial theorists such as Lefebvre and Soja to consider how university academic accommodations may function as regimes of truths discursively and materially shaping the lives of disabled and Mad students. I sketch cartographies of the present ways disabled and mad students are constituted and come to constitute themselves as disabled subjects. Case study methodology is employed to generate insights into knowledge-power relations shaping disabled and mad subjectivities. This research contributes new knowledge of disablement in university settings with key findings discussing how complex socio-spatial institutional knowledge-power relations shape notions of dis/ability and how disabled students become understood as mis/fits in university settings. This research demonstrates the significance of socio-spatialities in mad and disabled students' lives, attends to how they are perpetually (re)positioned within institutional spaces, how they craft, understand, and forge their own spaces. Mad and disabled students' perspectives offer new ways to think about university governance, disciplinary knowledges, pedagogies, constituting practices, subjectivities, socio-spatial struggle, and horizons of being human.

Mad Studies and Mad-Positive Music

New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 2019

Teaching (with) Dis/ability and Madness

Designing and Instructing Disability Studies and Mad Studies in Education: Reflections on Enacting Critical Pedagogy in Practice

In this research, I use an auto-ethnographic journaling research method (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011) ... more In this research, I use an auto-ethnographic journaling research method (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011) to unpack my experiences designing and instructing Critical Disability Studies (Titchkosky, 2011) in Education (CDSE) and Mad Studies (LeFrancois & Menzies, 2013) in Education (MSE) courses at an Ontario Faculty of Education. CDSE and MSE offer platforms for critique of ableist and sanist individualizing neoliberal educational discourses (LeFancois & Menzies, 2013). I reflect on these experiences in relation to the field of traditional special education. Slee (2004) notes: “The discursive field of special education itself prevents our aspiring teachers from thinking otherwise about the deep structures of disablement” (p.47). Traditional special education largely entails identifying individual characteristics of students with disabilities where: “The goal is to intervene in the most effective ways so that students can achieve as close to ‘normal’ as possible” (p.252). In contrast, the fie...

I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences deve... more I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences developing and teaching critical disability studies (CDS) and Mad studies in university contexts. My intent is to insert CDS and Mad pedagogies into the literature in adult education, where such discourses have been and continue to be absent from critical pedagogy in general and from teacher education more specifically. In this paper, I offer a critique of the absence of CDS and Mad studies ‐ informed approaches and perspectives in critical pedagogy in ways that may inform adult education. CDS and Mad studies can also help us to unpack the often ableist and sanist nature of Canadian teacher education.

International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability: Overcoming Obstacles and Enriching Lives, 2018

This chapter examines the implications of teaching (with) dis/ability and madness in higher educa... more This chapter examines the implications of teaching (with) dis/ability and madness in higher education. Mad and disabled subjects are often missing from inquiry and teaching relating to critical pedagogies. In this chapter, I consider Mad-positive teaching as a political stance that opens ethicoonto-epistem-ological possibilities (Barad, 2007) and contemplate how I enact a scholarly-informed Mad Studies pedagogy through my teaching and course design. Disclosing disability is presented as a pedagogical act linked to enabling pedagogies and a desire to foster an increasingly Madpositive academia. The fields of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) and Mad Studies are shown to offer educational insights that may (re) shape academic curriculum and pedagogy. Subsequently, the chapter surveys pedagogical approaches to accessible teaching and course design, and outlines the need to increasingly draw directly on Mad and disabled student knowledges in this regard. Finally, recommendations are offered for faculty development in relation to inclusive teaching, disability and Mad-positive curriculum, Universal Design for

Abstract In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobi... more Abstract
In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile research methods, specifically go-along interviews. Mobility-oriented qualitative inquiry is a way to examine disabled and Mad persons’ socio-spatial knowledges and study spatial inequalities impacting these persons. I reflect on my own positionality as an able-bodied researcher, while conducting research with self-identifying Mad and disabled research participants. I further discuss the limitations, enabling factors, constraints, and implications of engaging in go-along interviews. Next, I unpack how and why this method at many times was not desired by my research participants in favor of more traditional interview techniques, such as sit-down face-to-face interviews. There is a need to critically (re)consider space and place in research practices in ways that value the often subjugated voices and socio-spatial knowledge(s) of Mad and disabled persons.

Gendered Militarism in Canada, Dec 2015

Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I ... more Dominant militarist ideologies materially and discursively produce dis/ability. In this paper, I outline the field of Critical Disability Studies to unpack intersections of disability and gender. I theorize militarism, gender, and disability, and discuss pedagogies of possibility to counter ableism and sanism in educational systems and institutions. [Castrodale, M.A. (2015). A critical discussion on disabled subjects: Examining ableist and militarist discourses in education. In Learning Gendered Militarism. Nancy Taber (Ed.). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta Press]

I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences deve... more I draw theoretically on the works of critical pedagogues to unpack my instructor experiences developing and teaching critical disability studies (CDS) and Mad studies in university contexts. My intent is to insert CDS and Mad pedagogies into the literature in adult education, where such discourses have been and continue to be absent from critical pedagogy in general and from teacher education more specifically. In this paper, I offer a critique of the absence of CDS and Mad studies‑informed approaches and perspectives in critical pedagogy in ways that may inform adult education. CDS and Mad studies can also help us to unpack the often ableist and sanist nature of Canadian teacher education.

Mes théorisations font appel aux travaux de pédagogues critiques afin d’analyser mes expériences de développement et d’enseignement des études critiques du handicap (« critical disability studies ») et des études de la folie (« mad studies ») en contexte universitaire. Mon intention est d’intégrer les pédagogies de ces deux champs dans les travaux sur l’éducation des adultes, au sein desquels ces discours ont été et continuent d’être absents de la pédagogie critique en général et de la formation du personnel enseignant en particulier. Dans ce texte, j’offre une critique de l’absence, dans la pédagogie critique, d’approches et de perspectives s’inspirant des études critiques du handicap et de la folie qui pourraient contribuer à l’éducation des adultes. Ces champs d’études peuvent aussi nous aider à déconstruire la nature souvent capacitiste et « sain-iste » (« sanist ») de la formation du personnel enseignant au Canada.

In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After definin... more In this article, the authors discuss friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry. After defining friendship and positing it as a kind of fieldwork, the methodological foundations of friendship as method are established (Tillmann-Healy, 2003). The purpose of this narrative woven autoethnographic study is to examine the role of friendship in describing disabling physical and attitudinal access barriers in a university setting. Friendship represents a critical analytic lens through which disabled/nondisabled individuals alike may examine their positions, understandings, regimes of practices, and particular knowledges. Friends —Mark and Dan — discuss their experiences of disablement and reflections on dis/ability. The authors draw from their experiences of friendship and disability in higher education and their allied identities to discuss and examine questions of access, disclosure, and inclusion.

Duke Disability Alliance - Disability Pride - Discussion on Mad Studies and Higher Education- Podcast Episode 1: Mark Castrodale

Mad Studies, Critical Disability Studies, and Higher Education Duke Disability Alliance (Duke Un... more Mad Studies, Critical Disability Studies, and Higher Education

Duke Disability Alliance (Duke University) - Podcast for Duke University Disability Pride Week!
Published on Mar 27, 2017

Video and Interview Produced and Edited by Winston Linquester - Duke University Disability Alliance.

A list of additional works Dr. Mark A. Castrodale has recommended:
Academia.edu: http://mcmaster.academia.edu/MarkCast...
Dissertation: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent....
Friendship as Method: http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3762/...
Canadian Journal for the studies in adult education: http://cjsae.library.dal.ca/index.php...
Mad Studies WordPress: https://madstudies2014.wordpress.com/
Books:
Mad at School by Dr. Margaret Price
Mad Matters: A Critical Reader in Canadian Mad Studies