Suspicion as care: Rumor and accusation in community mental health

Abstract This article examines Perú’s transition from mental healthcare in psychiatric hospitals to a Community Mental Health (CMH) model. Based on 18 months of fieldwork on the outskirts of Lima, I show that one of CMH's effects has been an unexpected increase in rumors and accusations between neighbors. While mental health reforms have been characterized as a withdrawal from the state, I argue that CMH involves a series of interventions under the ethos of community care that create a new type of sociality and that bring together multiple actors who are now responsible and accountable for the care of deinstitutionalized individuals and their community. I propose the analytics of suspicion as care to evidence and analyze how residents are recruited and incorporated into CMH, and how suspicion, rumor, and accusation are conceived of as acts of care.