Zine and Heard?: mental health survivors, zines and epistemic justice

Abstract

Survivors of the mental health system are marginalised in a myriad of ways in relation to knowledge production. This has increasingly been understood in terms of theories of epistemic injustice. Zines are often used to share marginalised peoples’ knowledge, and the medium of zines and the zine community may have various qualities that might benefit survivors. However, there is limited research about survivors’ use of zines, particular in relation to challenging
epistemic injustice.

This thesis draws on interviews, zine-making workshops and a zine sharing session with survivors, as well as my own experiences of making and sharing zines, to provide an account of how and why survivors might use zines to reflect on and articulate experience, and how and why survivors might share experiences and understandings via zines. I used a zine-centred, survivor- friendly approach which draws on (critical) participatory action research, autoethnography,
arts-based research and narrative research.

Themes discussed include: how the creative and crafty qualities of zines can help survivor reflection and articulation; survivors’ use of the flexibility of zine structure to help sensemaking; and readers’ responses to unusual structures and visual and sculptural elements in zines. I also discuss: how audience choice and context relates to social reflexivity, and what survivors felt able to articulate and share; the benefits that the culture of the zine community can afford survivors; and the way in which survivors engage in protective strategies and develop collective resources and agency via zines.

This thesis goes on to develop an understanding of how survivors’ use of zines might help address epistemic injustice. It also demonstrates how theories of epistemic injustice and other relevant social concepts, such as Archer’s (2000) account of agency, can aid our understanding of how and why survivors use zines.