Magic at the Margins: Towards a Magical Realist Human Geography

Laws, Jennifer

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 paper, 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 paper 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 paper 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.

Citation

Laws, J. (2017). Magic at the Margins: Towards a Magical Realist Human Geography. cultural geographies, 24(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474016647367

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 4, 2016
• Online Publication Date: May 6, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 17, 2016
• Journal: Cultural Geographies
• Print ISSN: 1474-4740
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-0881
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-19
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474016647367