Editorial Statement on Ethics

This book engages with sensitive archival materials relating to psychiatrized patients at a Brazilian institution, focusing on Stella do Patrocínio but including others whose lives were similarly confined. Most were committed arbitrarily and indefinitely, predominantly racialized and working-class individuals subjected to lifelong institutionalization.

The visual and textual records presented here raise complex ethical questions, particularly concerning the use of images and audio material where issues of consent are unclear. In editing this book, we have confronted these questions through sustained collective reflection. Our approach emphasized:

• Naming patients wherever possible
• Presenting materials in their original form
• Centring the dignity, agency, and vitality of individuals within a violent, concentrationary system

We understand this work as partial: an act of repair and restitution that is necessarily incomplete and marked by blind spots. We ultimately chose to publish these materials as an act of ethical witnessing — a deliberate intervention against historical invisibilization. By sharing it, we invite further critique, collaboration, and correction. If you identify individuals whose names are missing or have concerns about these materials, please contact us through the publisher.