Cologne International Forum:
Could you briefly explain your research focus in simple terms for a lay audience?

Marileen La Haije:

I would say that my research has broadly focused on the intersections between arts, mental health, and human rights, particularly in Latin America. And I've done that in several different ways. For example, in my dissertation, I focused on Central American literary texts, so novels, and short stories that deal in one way or another with the psychological effects of war violence. Specifically during the Cold War, when there was genocide in Guatemala and civil war in El Salvador. For this research at the University of Cologne, I am focusing on the arts in a broader sense. So not only literature, but also other - what I call arts-based practices, which are very diverse, including mural art, cinema, interactive theater, and narrative games - it's a very interesting topic. All of these arts-based practices are aimed at promoting the human rights of people who experience mental suffering.

What is your work at the University of Cologne based on and why did you choose the UoC as partner University?

My work here was divided into two parts. The first part was mainly interviewing. I did more than 20 interviews with different people who are involved in these arts-based practices that promote the human rights of people who have experienced mental suffering. So not just artists, and activists, but also experienced experts, health care workers, scholars, etcera. I analyzed all the insights that they shared with me, connected them and wrote some articles about it. The second part was to select some of the art-based practices that these people had told me about and then to do a more in-depth analysis of what these art-based practices entail.

And why did I choose the UoC as a partner university? Mainly because of the collaboration I have with one of the professors who works here. She's called Bike Willem and she's an expert in Latin American literature, particularly the region I'm studying at the moment - Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Through her, I got to know the university. I also came to know that there are a lot of other centers of expertise at the University of Cologne that are related to my research, especially the Global South Studies Centre, which does very interesting interdisciplinary work and offers a lot of activities as well, and public engagement, which is very interesting. And more generally, the diverse expertise of the Department of Romance Studies at the University of Cologne, which is very large and also has an important line of research on Latin America.

What inspired you to initiate the project “Arts in Minds” and what role does art play in this context?

So, the inspiration came during my thesis. I was doing this work on Central American literature, focusing a lot on the connection between mental health and human rights. That's where I learned that particularly in Argentina, there's a huge legacy of activism around mental health and human rights. People who are trying to protect the human rights of people who have experienced mental suffering. People who are hospitalized, but also people outside of psychiatric institutions. So, I started reading about these collectives and I found out that a lot of these collectives are also using arts-based practices. They've started to do public exhibitions, so there's a public that can engage with the artworks that are being made. It's not an individual process or processes, it's very much a group or collective process that connects with society. So, I think that's the first inspiration I got. And I think it kind of answers the first question. One of the advantages of art is that it's very versatile. So, you don't just have to use words to express yourself or to find ways to denounce violence, for example. There are different artistic languages one can use, for example, mural art, or you can make music, you can make songs, you can sing, you can dance, and that diversity has been very useful in expressing these challenging issues around mental health and human rights. And the other part would be the social connection. So, art as a way of bridging the gap between the psychiatric institution and society. And this is very evident in the case of the radio programs. There are a lot of radio programs from inside the psychiatric institution that really try to connect with the outside as well.

Could you elaborate on your role in the research project “Arts in Mind” ?

I ask myself this question all the time because I want my research to have an impact. But sometimes I wonder what the added value is of researching these collectives when they are already doing the work themselves. I mean, they are the ones who are doing, for example, mural art as a way of denouncing what is happening in psychiatric institutions (e.g., overmedication, prolonged isolation), street mobilizations or peer group support. I mean, they're the ones who are doing the work. So, in the first part of my research, I was thinking about what this research can do in terms of supporting these creative processes. And the people who should know this are the people I interviewed. So that was always the final question: In what way do you think this research could contribute to the arts-based practices you carry out. And they saw the importance of the reflexive parts of research, and not just reflecting to gain new insights, but reflecting as a way of remembering as well. And that there's a register of what's been done in a way.

What was the experience and process like for you as a scientist to get in touch with the research participants?

Yes, it's a very important question because the relationship between activism and academia is not always very easy. I think academia shouldn't be in a comfortable position and should be constantly questioning itself. Activist groups like these encourage us to do that. I had some initial contacts with artistic collectives that were not personal. I researched what they were doing and, in my first email to them, I would refer to some examples of arts-based practices from these collectives I had seen, and explained why I thought they were important and valuable. And then I asked if they would have time to talk to me in the context of this project. Most people responded positively, did the interview with me, and recommended me to contact other artistic collectives as well, responding to one of my interview questions: "Can you give me an example of an arts-based practice that you value, and explain why?” Through these connections it was easier to find further contacts. I'm not an insider in any way. But the contact didn't stop after the interview. So, we continue to work together. We've done guest workshops with some of the people I interviewed, we've done joint publications. Now I'm going to Argentina, we're going to do some workshops. I hadn't thought about it before, but yeah, this could be one of the biggest goals I've achieved.

What are the barriers to this arts-based approach to promoting the rights of people in vulnerable mental health situations?

I think one of the biggest challenges for arts-based practices to work in these very difficult contexts is the lack of resources. In Argentina, for example, they had this very ambitious legislation, which was implemented in 2010. The new mental health law really thought about implementing an alternative mental health care system that would promote and protect the human rights of people who are experiencing mental suffering. They had this goal that by 2020 all closed psychiatric institutions should be replaced by alternative health care facilities. So, on the one hand, mental health units in general hospitals, but also open-door facilities like day hospitals, and night hospitals. Great ideas and first steps. But in the end, they weren't able to replace all the psychiatric institutions because the government didn't make the necessary investments. I mean, this lack of resources has very big consequences, including very overcrowded hospital rooms, and very long waiting lists. These are the kinds of contexts that we are talking about, and then these arts-based practices must work in that context with almost no resources. I think that is the biggest challenge or the biggest obstacle to doing grassroots work. Another one is what we were talking about, the social stigmas that still exist around mental health and mental suffering. Most of these collectives are very aware of what is going on in society and the stigmas that still exist, such as mental suffering associated with being dangerous. They are finding very creative ways, also through humor, to challenge these stigmas.

Are there any future directions that you want to pursue within the context of activist-oriented art?

A dream project I'd like to do, but haven't found funding for yet, would be about these kinds of arts-based practices that promote the rights of children in situations of psychological and social vulnerability. I say social vulnerability because most of the time these are very interrelated. So not only do these children face mental suffering, but mental suffering is very often linked to situations of social vulnerability; for example, poverty, violence and abuse. They are very obviously linked. And then there's the open part, which is on a personal level, I really like doing research, but I sometimes doubt if academia is the best place to do research, and so I'm trying to think of other ways and outside the university to do research on the one hand, but also within the university by doing other tasks.

Thank you!