Students as co-creators: Mad Studies and mental health narratives
Published
10-4-2026
Type of Work
Conference Presentation
Project Affiliation
ACAP
Abstract
As part of a Cultural Studies unit at SAE University College, students from different creative disciplines (audio, music, design, animation, games, and film) collaborated to produce a creative media text inspired by a critical theory of their choosing. Students could choose from theories including posthumanism, queer studies, post-colonialism, critical race theory, Mad Studies and others. Interestingly, a majority selected Mad Studies, which focuses on the lived experiences of and discrimination against people with mental illness.
This presentation reports on collaborative research by two academics, one coming from a creative industries and cultural studies perspective (SAE University College), the other coming from a social psychology perspective (ACAP University College). By analysing 2 student projects and their corresponding exegeses, we examine the stated goals and intended audiences, the quality of their understanding of Mad Studies concepts, and how the students contextualise mental illness through their creative work.
In view of psychological perspectives on public stigma, self-stigma, and stigma reduction, we speculate on the potential influence of these works on both the intended audiences and the students themselves. Our analysis considers what it reveals about contemporary young people that mental health emerged so prevalently when given open-ended creative briefs with multiple critical theory perspectives to choose from. We also consider other ways of measuring the impact of this assessment task and how other young people can be involved in similar projects.
Citation
Maunder, R & Kolff, L (2026, April 10). Students as co-creators: Mad Studies and mental health narratives [Paper presentation]. CAWRI Conference 2026 Creating Wellbeing: Youth, Arts, and Mental Health, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. https://www.cawri.com.au/events