Respectfully distrusting ‘Students as Partners’ practice in higher education: applying a Mad politics of partnership

Abstract

As a Mad person affiliated with Mad/psychiatric survivor/disability movements, participating in pedagogical partnerships over the past four years has been confusing and ethically fraught. Through engagement with the scholarship on Students as Partners (SaP) practice in higher education, the emerging discipline of Mad(ness) Studies, and my own experiences as a ‘partner’ on various projects, this paper seeks to synthesize a Mad politics of student-staff partnership in the academy. These politics are explored through four themes: (1) Equity? Attention to power dynamics and resulting trauma; (2) Interpersonal concord and consensus? Anger, conflict and collective action; (3) Mutual collaboration? Independence and survivor-led/controlled initiatives; (4) Inclusion? Partnership barriers and possibilities for Mad/disabled students. I end by proposing a politics of respectful distrust as Mad Studies and Mad/disabled people further explore opportunities for coalition-building and alliance with SaP colleagues.