Dangerous Gifts: Towards a New Wave of Mad Resistance Jonah Bossewitch This dissertation examines significant shifts in the politics of psychiatric resistance and mental health activism that have appeared in the past decade. This new wave of resistance has emerged against the backdrop of an increasingly expansive diagnostic/treatment paradigm, and within the context of activist ideologies that can be traced through the veins of broader trends in social movements. In contrast to earlier

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... ns of consumer/survivor/ex-patient activists, many of whom dogmatically challenged the existence of mental illness, the emerging wave of mad activists are demanding a voice in the production of psychiatric knowledge and greater control over the narration of their own identities. After years as a participant-observer at a leading radical mental health advocacy organization, The Icarus Project, I present an ethnography of conflicts at sites including Occupy Wall Street and the DSM-5 protests at the 2012 American Psychiatric Association conference. These studies bring this shift into focus, demonstrate how non-credentialed stakeholders continue to be silenced and marginalized, and help us understand the complex ideas these activists are expressing. This new wave of resistance emerged amidst a revolution in communication technologies, and throughout the dissertation I consider how activists are utilizing communications tools, and the ways in which their politics of resistance resonate deeply with the communicative modalities and cultural practices across the web. Finally, this project concludes with an analysis of psychiatry's current state and probable trajectories, and provides recommendations for applying the lessons from the movement towards greater emancipation and empowerment. Projects like this one are never truly finished and this dissertation represents a significant milestone on the road to the stories, books and films I intend to spawn. The fullest realization of this project is our emancipation, not just words, and I hope this work helps inspire meaningful actions. There were many times I doubted I would complete this phase and I am truly ecstatic to be writing these acknowledgments right now. I could never have arrived at this point without the heartfelt generosity and loving support of all the people I am about to thank, and many, many more who conspired, along with the universe, to help me follow through. First, I want to thank the Columbia Journalism School's Communications PhD program, a very special program that carefully nurtures a unique space for academic dreamers. I was drawn the Communications PhD program while I was enrolled in Teachers College. As a student in Frank Moretti and Robbie McClintock's History and Theories of Communication seminar I first met some of the Comm students and immediately felt a deep kinship, realizing I had finally found my academic home. The program's faculty are also remarkable, and each of them opened my mind to entirely new worlds. This monograph has benefited greatly from the thoughtful attention and constructive comments of my dissertation committee: Michael Schudson, Todd Gitlin, Diane Vaughan, Sayantani DasGupta and Jack Bratich. As I continue to develop this work your ideas and ideals will help guide me. Your pragmatic commitment to clear, concise, and compelling prose has shaped my writing, and ultimately, my thinking. I want to especially thank Michael and Todd, who demonstrated their faith in my academic success from the beginning, and helped me develop as a better writer, thinker, and person. Michael always entertained my intellectual flights, all the while providing meticulous, thoughtful feedback. He encouraged me to doggedly pursue my interests, and gently reminded me to flesh out my conceptual abstractions with more sociological meat. When I first started working with Todd, he reminded me of Peter Parker's boss J. Jonah Jameson, a hard-boiled newspaper editor helping me sniff out the best stories, challenging my iv conspiracy theories, and forcing me to back up my hunches with evidence. He became more than an editor -he became my advisor, my co-investigator and finally, my mentor. In the year leading up to my defense I had the privilege of participating in a dissertation writing group, and the brilliant feedback of Burcu Baykurt, Travis Mushett, Ri Pierce-Grove and Soomin Seo provided me with the inspiration and resolve to see this project through. Honorary mentions go to Sascha DuBrul, Erica Fletcher, Brad Lewis, Faith Rhyne and Tom Schmatzhagen and Alexander Gail Shermansong, close friends from outside my program who also closely read and debated with me throughout drafts and droughts. Together they helped me weather the cold winters of endless revisions through the warmth of their dark humor and good cheer. To all of my friends, activists and researchers involved in the mad movement, thank you for sharing your stories and lives with me.