Insanity, Race and Colonialism [electronic resource] : Managing Mental Disorder in the Post-Emancipation British Caribbean, 1838-1914 /
Smith, L.author.
Despite emancipation from the evils of enslavement in 1838, most people of African origin in the British West Indian colonies continued to suffer serious material deprivation and racial oppression. This book examines the management and treatment of those who became insane, in the period until the Great War.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 Caribbean Institutions in Context; The rise of the public asylum in England; An empire of asylums; Islands of dislocation and despair; Conclusions; 2 The Early Lunatic Asylums; Antecedents; Madness in jail; Troubled beginnings; Conclusions; 3 Scandal in Jamaica - The Kingston Lunatic Asylum; Looming problems; Four years of turmoil; A degraded institution; A racial dimension?; Aftermath; Observations; 4 Reform - The Jamaica Lunatic Asylum; Birth pains; The model institution; Decline and stagnation
Conclusion: Fluctuating fortunes5 Colonial Asylums in Transition; British Guiana - A glimpse of the vision; Trinidad - Toward the grand design; Barbados - A slow walk to Jenkinsville; Small islands, small aspirations; Conclusion: Contrasting experiences; 6 Pathways to the Asylum; Background circumstances; Precipitants; Becoming a patient; Conclusion: Benevolent intervention or social control?; 7 The Patient Challenge; Of class, colour and race; Categorisations and presentations; Protest and confrontation; Conclusions; 8 The Colonial Asylum Regime
The moral management system - civilising the lunaticsMedical interventions; Attendants and nurses; Conclusion: Unfulfilled ambitions; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Despite emancipation from the evils of enslavement in 1838, most people of African origin in the British West Indian colonies continued to suffer serious material deprivation and racial oppression. This book examines the management and treatment of those who became insane, in the period until the Great War.
History.
Imperialism.
Social history.
America-History.
Social policy.
Ethnicity.
History of Science.
Imperialism and Colonialism.
Social History.
History of the Americas.
Social Policy.
Ethnicity Studies.