People Feature

Emily Dyson

DPhil in Politics: Political Theory

I am a DPhil candidate in Politics: Political Theory. I am also an AHRC scholar, and hold an MPhil degree in Politics: Political Theory from Nuffield College, University of Oxford, as well as a BA (Hons) degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

My MPhil thesis is entitled 'The Psycho-Poliitcs of Frantz Fanon and Michel Foucault: A Critical Dialogue'. It explores the resonances and dissonances between Fanon and Foucault's critical theories of mental illness and mental healthcare.

I am currently writing up my DPhil thesis, ‘Towards a Deep Democratisation of Mental Healthcare: Psycho-Social Recovery In, Against, and Beyond the State,’ which I will submit by the end of September 2024. This thesis seeks to develop a political theory of democratising mental healthcare, exploring the possibility of commoning mental healthcare in, against, and beyond the state. It lies at the intersection of critical theory, normative political theory, and the history of political praxis, with a focus on Fanonian institutional psychotherapy and Foucauldian anti-psychiatry.

I have a strong research interest in the politics of care and the welfare state more generally – especially libertarian socialist and autonomist Marxist feminist approaches.

Emily Dyson

Publications

'From Critical Theory to Critical Therapy: Towards a Permanent Psycho-Political Revolution Between Subjective and Objective Disalienation' - under review at Philosophy and Social Criticism.