Maddening Post-Qualitative Inquiry: An Exercise in Collective (Mad) Theorising

Abstract

Both post-qualitative inquiry and Mad methodologies sit on the fringes of qualitative health research, although their potential for creating new knowledges and practices is increasingly recognised. In this article, we explore the possibilities created by bringing these approaches together within research led by, or centring, mental health service users and survivors. We outline and reflect on a workshop undertaken with peer support workers to map affective intensities within mental health assemblages. We suggest the tensions between post-qualitative and Mad research approaches hold potential for mental health research, and qualitative health research more broadly, bringing together theory and the experiences of service users/survivors to think–feel–become otherwise in relation to health care, peer support, and activism.