Mad culture

Abstract

This chapter examines the viability of the notion of “Mad culture” as an alternative to the formulation of madness as a disorder of the mind. The chapter addresses the following questions: What is culture? Can madness constitute a culture? What are the justifications for cultural rights? Do people have a right to their culture or to any culture? In the process of answering these questions, the chapter compares and contrasts Mad culture and Deaf culture. It also engages with Will Kymlicka’s theory of cultural rights as civil rights, which centers on the idea of culture as a “context of choice.”