Parole che legano, parole che separano
Discorso e produzione di significati sulla malattia mentale nella RPC del XX e XXI secolo
abstract
The problem of mental illness has compelled different medical systems to produce original explanatory models in order to interpret the disease and offer cures and remedies. Every medical system is a culturally informed structure that provides illness aetiology and related therapies on a cultural shared basis. The problematization of mental illness, on the other hand, is a discursive formation brought to society by élites holding disciplinary and psychiatric power. Different historical and geographic contexts have brought different discourses on mental illness. This paper aims to take a broad overview on medical, social, and legal discourse about mental illness in Mainland China, offering a basis for further investigation about the new People’s Republic of China’s Mental Illness Law and PRC policies about social and civil rights of the mentally ill. Lexical and discursive analysis are based on a medical anthropology and cultural studies theoretical framework.
Keywords: Cultural studies • Chinese language • Medical anthropology
permalink: http://doi.org/10.14277/--/SV-2-76