Introduction

Objects embody meaning – they can embody the social, emotional and psychological experiences which people carry with them as part of their unique, individual journey in this world. Material ethnography provides researchers with a route into those meanings through the study of objects to which people attach meanings related to experiences in their lives. It is particularly useful in the context of research which involves populations whose experiences have been overlooked or undervalued in mainstream culture, as often those experiences lack a language that is readily accessible to either the researcher or the researched. This methodology facilitates the study of complex issues through the meanings which an individual attaches to objects which they associate with their lived experience of those issues.

The study reported here concerned an examination of the relevance of peer contact and peer support to mental health recovery (Kirwan and Swords, 2021). The authors adopted material ethnography as a portal through which they could reach an understanding of the experiences of members of a peerled social club for mental health service users. Through the discussion of club-related objects chosen by the participants, the symbolic representations of those objects revealed much about the struggle to find safe spaces for social interaction for some people experiencing mental health problems. In particular, this study shed light on one peer-led group's struggle for self-determination and the right to associate, rights which surrounded the efforts of the participants to create a social space which they controlled. This chapter argues that material ethnography provides a powerful research tool for all researchers interested in social justice-based research.

This study confronts the taken-for-granted social segregation and silencing of people with severe and enduring mental health issues and finds hidden depths of meaning and emancipation in the conviviality of social contact at the peer-led club's weekly social gathering. The chapter will first provide some key background and context considerations. This will include a focus on exploring the connections between mental health, social justice, power and the idea of recovery in mental health service delivery. The authors will then explore the decision-making process surrounding the chosen methodology, which encouraged participants to not only tell their stories in a meaningful way but to construct feelings of solidarity and the need for collective action in response to the systemic oppression faced by the club's members.