Mad Archaeologies of Asylums and Sanist Necropolitics.

This article focuses on integrating mad studies and the mad liberation movement into the archaeological study of "lunatic" asylums and psychiatric institutions, advocating for survivor-centric approaches that recognize these sites as sanist death-worlds—spaces shaped by systemic oppression and premature death under sanism, the discrimination against people perceived as mad. Using two nineteenth-century French asylums, Bonneval and Navarre, and particularly the neglected "cemetery of the insane" at Navarre, the article highlights how archaeological and heritage narratives have historically marginalized mad voices, often reproducing institutional and sanist perspectives. It calls for the development of "mad archaeologies" that center the experiences and knowledge of mad communities, while cautioning against academic neutralization and voyeurism, and emphasizes the importance of grassroots activism in reclaiming mad heritage. The article underscores the ongoing necropolitical disregard for mad people, both historically and in contemporary heritage practices, and urges archaeology to engage more deeply with mad liberation to produce socially just and inclusive narratives.