Silver McKie

Silver Mckie is a doctoral student in Anthropology, broadly interested in experiences of self, consciousness, and embodiment. Drawing from mad studies, transcultural psychology, and anthropological frameworks of consciousness, their work critically explores how Western psychology has traditionally over-pathologized non-normative experiences of selfhood. Silver holds a particular interest in exploring post-clinical or otherwise non-pathological multiplicity, where multiple autonomous selves exist simultaneously in one body. Their research seeks to understand how persons with many disconnected subjectivities navigate self-conceptualization and care practices within and against the singular-normative Euro-American context.

 

For the past four years, Silver has worked with an interdisciplinary team of researchers to investigate the experiences and decision-making processes of individuals who identify as both transgender and plural, where ‘plural’ is an identity label used by communities of people often diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Silver is currently involved with a new collaborative research project investigating the process and quality of attachment relationships between individuals with dissociative identity disorder and their clinical providers. Additionally, Silver’s has previously conducted archival research in public policy, childhood abuse, and memory science.