Critical Suicide Studies

The sociocultural aspects of suicide occupy a relatively small space in the literature on this topic, whereas biomedical and mental health framings dominate the discipline of suicidology. Despite the growing recognition that "Eurocentric configurations" (Tisha X and marcela polanco, 2021) and western-centric notions of suicidality reflect colonial ideologies, the realms of knowledge grounded in Indigenous and majority-world expertise are not always validated to the same degree in suicide research, and by extension, in practical contexts. Critical suicide studies, a discipline that expands and enhances conventional biomedical approaches by engaging with lived experiences, power relations, social justice, and the histories that frame knowledge on suicidality, have shifted the debate, but they require more nuanced perspectives if they are to continue to disrupt normative approaches. To reimagine how scholars, advocates, and practitioners think about and address suicidality, new scholarly spaces are needed to explore this topic from a critical, sociocultural angle.