Magic at the margins: towards a magical realist human geography. (January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laws, Jennifer
• Is Part Of: Cultural geographies. Volume 24:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 19
• Publication Date: 2017-01
• Subjects: enchantment -- evidence -- madness -- magic -- magical geography -- magical realism -- mental distress -- politics of knowledge -- pragmatism -- recovery; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; 304.23
• DOI: 10.1177/1474474016647367
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1474-4740

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to put forward the case for a magically realist human geography, drawing on geographical research into the lives and lifeworlds of people with long-term and disabling mental health difficulties. In the article, I move between extracts from my own ethnographic research with mental health service users and survivors and the equally unusual stories of the literary genre, magical realism, in which I find a framework for addressing what I understand as a narrative paucity in much of mainstream research writing about mental distress. The article reflects upon the strange and sometimes magical qualities of illness and recovery in the context of individuals living with severe and enduring mental health problems and how traditional constructions of 'evidence' variously exclude or overlook such experiences. The contributions of the article are both to explore how 'magic' might encapsulate certain aspects of living with mental distress and – developing ongoing discussions in the sub-discipline around geographies of enchantment, magic and spirituality – to consider how a magical realist framework for geographical research might do justice to the rich, marvellous and irreducible experiences of everyday life, which are often excluded from conventional evidence bases.