Madness, the Psychopolitical, and the Vernacular

Abstract

Nancy Rose Hunt, “Madness, the Psychopolitical, and the Vernacular: Rethinking Psychiatric Histories”: The introduction offers an innovative, critical historiographical overview of the field of psychiatric and madness scholarship for Africa, with a comprehensive historical overview of evidence and stories about madness in African history and scholarly studies, and attention to category work, sensibilities, and three concepts: madness, the psychopolitical, and the vernacular. The psychopolitical is explored as a way to broach dictators’ mental states, convergences, and social moods or atmosopheres. The virtues of the term vernacular is explored as an alternative to the traditional, a counterpoint to the psychiatric, and in relation to being attentive to and mining residual forms and vocabularies. Drawing on Frantz Fanon, the chapter uses Michel Foucault’s take on “vivacity” and early modern madness to interpret madness capaciously within African histories of all eras. The chapter frames the entire book, and is followed immediately by a descriptive review of each chapter.