Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA)
  • News
  • Education
    • Course Overview
    • NICA-curriculum
    • Core Courses
    • Archive
  • Research
    • Dissertation Defenses
  • Organization
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

PhD | The Politics of Depression. A critical analysis of the political-epistemological limits of major depressive disorder

April 30, 2018/in PhDs /by Chantal

PhD-Candidate: Joe van der Eerden | University of Amsterdam | The Politics of Depression. A critical analysis of the political-epistemological limits of major depressive disorder  | Supervisors: Patricia Pisters, Julian Kiverstein 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 6.7% of adults in the United States suffered from a major depressive episode in 2014. The goal of this research will be to argue that this prevalence of depression should be understood as a function of the operation of contemporary knowledge about depression, and of the normative forces that underlie, and arise from, this knowledge. This statement will be supported by critical analyses of professional scientific texts relating to depression, as well as the diagnostic tools that are used in psychiatric practice. Although what we know about depression appears to move towards a definitive, objective body of knowledge, its conceptual limits are inscribed in the normative, highly volatile domain of cultural dynamics. This is why the analyses central to this research shall be indebted to theoreticians who acknowledge this feature of knowledge, such as Nikolas Rose, Michel Foucault, and Ian Hacking.

Through these analyses, I shall argue that knowledge about depression is conceptualised, according to the logic of scientific objectivism, as if its object is a natural, apolitical, individualised occurrence. Paradoxically, however, most of the terms and actions that this knowledge discusses are fundamentally historical, and do not have any meaning without a political, normative framework that transcends the individual experience. My aim is to formulate and apply a critical perspective that enables an understanding of this complex epistemological situation, by regarding the existence of depression as a function of the normative principles that govern the production of knowledge about it.



Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about our news, lectures, seminars, workshops and more.

Share this page

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about our news, lectures, seminars, workshops and more.

Research Schools

  • Huizinga: Cultural History (Amsterdam)
  • Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies NOG (Utrecht)
  • OSK: Art History (Utrecht)
  • OSL: Literary Studies (Amsterdam)
  • RMeS: Media Studies (Amsterdam)

Research Masters

  • Art and Visual Culture (Radboud University Nijmegen)
  • Art Studies (University of Amsterdam)
  • Artistic Research (UvA)
  • Arts and Culture (Leiden University)
  • Cultural Analysis (Amsterdam, UvA)
  • Gender and Ethnicity (Utrecht)
  • International Performance Research (University of Amsterdam)
  • Literary and Cultural Studies (Groningen)
  • Literary Studies (Leiden University)
  • Media, Art and Performance Studies (Utrecht University)
  • Religious Studies (Amsterdam, UvA)
  • Visual Arts, Media and Architecture (Amsterdam, VU)

Affiliated Research Institutes

  • Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS)
  • Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
  • Centre for Gender and Diversity, Maastricht

NICA archive 2010 – 2020

Read all articles published by Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis 2010 to 2020.

© 2021 - Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA)
Website door Nikolai NL Design Studio
  • Privacy
  • Contact
Scroll to top

We use cookies only for the purposes of measuring effectiveness of our website. Our Privacy Statement.

OK

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy
Accept settingsHide notification only