Zine and Heard

PhD Research About Survivors of the Mental Health System (can) Address Epistemic Injustice via Zines.

Abstract

This zine outlines PhD research focused on how survivors of the mental health system (can) address epistemic injustice via zines. It focuses on creative crafty visual and non-linear zine qualities as well as zine community as an alternative epistemic environment. I pay particular attention to the sense of liberty survivors describe in the zine community, the way in which knowledge is evaluated, and authority is awarded and the culture of valuing intersectional subjective knowledge. I argue that the zine qualities described, along with the power dynamics, practice and culture of the zine community, enable survivors to articulate and share knowledge based on lived experience. I also argue that creating and sharing knowledge via zines can serve protective functions and that the zine community provides survivors with an opportunity to have our knowledge appropriately valued. The zine is a combination of text and illustrations, which were created through a combination of drawing and painting.