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Instructors: Bruno Mesquita Soares de Araujo
Event type:
Follow-up seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
V-SEM
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
6,0
Language of instruction:
German
Min. | Max. participants:
10 | 25
Registration group: Spezielle Soziologien - Seminare
Comments/contents:
In many societies, the behavior and attitudes of individuals that go against the ‘norm’ are described as deviant, bizarre, sick, or even ‘possessed’ by angels or devils. Throughout the development of Western capitalism, specifically during the Modern Age, all kinds of abnormalities were ‘produced’. The ways in which the phenomenon of madness - more specifically, people with mental disorders - is observed in sociology varies immensely. Usually, the mainstream discussion in sociology about madness is associated with the history of its pathologization and medicalization with the use of Western medicine. In this sense, a correlation between politics and economics in the reproduction of ‘the deviant’ is frequent. However, this seminar is concerned with the phenomenon of madness itself, particularly with regard to its manifestation in everyday life, as well as the first person point of view: It is time to give voice to the madness!
Due to this reason, this seminar places phenomenology and its approach to madness at the core. For phenomenologists, phenomena can only be known if the perspectives of those who experience them are studied. Sociology, despite all criticisms, uses this phenomenological approach in an attempt to reveal the structural experiences through the meanings enacted in the intersubjective processes. As a result, typifications emerge: madness leaves the realm of its delusional subjectivity to face the objectivity of the lifeworld. How does the experience of madness in everyday life take place? What about the madness’ point of view? Which contributions have social phenomenology and phenomenological sociology given to this matter? Bring your madness and enjoy this seminar!
Learning objectives:
• To introduce students to the discipline of social phenomenology
• To improve research skills through social phenomenology
• To deepen epistemological issues in sociology
• To analyze the phenomenon of madness beyond an economic and political framework
Didactic concept:
This seminar will be divided into two blocks. In the first moment, we are going to be introduced into phenomenology and social phenomenology through phenomenological sociologies such as sociology of knowledge, ethnomethodology, and dramaturgy sociology. This moment is very important to the further comprehension of the empiric cases. During the six-first expository classes, students have to participate in class activities, deliver one summary and answer some questions in group. The second moment is reserved for the application of (social) phenomenological background into the case of madness. During the six following classes, students have to present seminars about the definition of madness (I, II, III), depression, schizophrenia, addiction, and mental health care systems (students can also change the topics of the empirical cases). Each session is followed by extra activities such as psychological tests, tarot readings and screening of short movies (both considered as phenomenological tools of self-understanding). Initially, all the classes will be online by Zoom, but other platforms can be used as well (Microsoft Team, Skype...).
Literature:
Classic texts, theoretical and empirical articles, and documentaries. Find below the basic literature. Other will be provided on syllabus:
Aneshensel, C. S., Bierman, A., Phelan, J. C. (1999). Handbook of the sociology of mental health. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge (No. 10). Penguin Uk.
Cerbone, David R. Understanding phenomenology. Routledge, 2014.
Eaton, W. W. (1980). The sociology of mental disorders. New York: Praeger.
Foucault, M. (2003). Abnormal: lectures at the Collège de France, 1974-1975 (Vol. 2). Macmillan.
Goffman, E. (2002). The presentation of self in everyday life. 1959. Garden City, NY, 259.
Laing, R. (2010). The divided self: An existential study in sanity and madness. Penguin UK.
Heidegger, Martin (1996). Being and time: A translation of Sein und Zeit. SUNY press.
Husserl, Edmund (2012). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology. Routledge.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (2013). Phenomenology of perception. Routledge.
Schutz, Alfred, and Thomas Luckmann (1973). The structures of the life-world. Vol. 1. Northwestern university press.
Additional examination information:
Course work:
- Group presentations
- Classroom activities
- Final paper
Exam:
- Final essay (min. 10 pages).
Deadline: 01/04/2021
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