Constructing Madness, Power, and Subjugated Knowledge: A Foucauldian Reading of Myriam Warner-Vieyra's Juletane (1987)

Abstract

This article explores the complex relationship between those deemed “mad” and society. It reveals the diverse ways through which  madness functions as a social construct in societies that still exclude those outside their boundaries. It aims to expose how Juletane (1987) by Myriam Warner-Vieyra challenges boundaries within an oppressive socio-cultural system. The novel moves beyond the depiction of madness as a purely psychological condition. It presents it as a stigmatizing label positioned between the categories of ‘reason’ and ‘unreason’, and imposed upon individuals, particularly women, who find themselves in the face of embedded strict expectations. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s conceptual insights, the study claims that madness is a crafted epistemic certainty produced through the silencing of women's voices by patriarchal institutions. Ultimately, the article reveals the methods that Juletane seeks to  move beyond definitions of rationality by converting her madness into a counter-epistemology, from which she struggles to generate crucial consciousness.