The Encounter of Psychiatry and Racism in the Philosophy of Michel Foucault

The subject of this article is the encounter of race, racism, and psychiatry in the philosophy discourse of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Although he is admired for development of the concept of power relations, and nontraditional approach to history and philosophy, in this article focus will be on Foucault as an intellectual who was also trained and had affinity in psychology and psychiatry. In this respect, the novelty of his approach to historical roots of psychiatry and its social importance in modern times will be accessed, as well as relations between racism and psychiatry. With this article, Foucault will be presented not only as a philosopher of anti-psychiatry, but also as a representative of critical discourse of power that psychiatry has on racism and modern society. In that respect, his discourse on relations between race and psychiatry will be accessed as suitable for application in humanities, social and medical sciences.