TY - BOOK ID - 78343689 TI - Imperial bedlam PY - 1999 VL - 10 SN - 0585119783 0520921852 9780520921856 9780585119786 0520216164 0520216172 PB - Berkeley University of California Press DB - UniCat KW - Hospitals, Psychiatric KW - Colonialism. KW - history. KW - Nigeria. KW - Federal Republic of Nigeria KW - Psychiatric hospitals KW - Mentally ill KW - Mental illness KW - Psychiatry KW - Imperialism KW - Hôpitaux psychiatriques KW - Malades mentaux KW - Maladies mentales KW - Psychiatrie KW - Impérialisme KW - history KW - History. KW - Care KW - Treatment KW - Health aspects KW - History KW - Histoire KW - Soins KW - Traitement KW - Aspect sanitaire KW - Hospitals KW - Insane asylums KW - Mental hospitals KW - Mental institutions KW - Psychiatry in general hospitals KW - Asylums KW - Mental health facilities KW - Specialty hospitals KW - Colonialism KW - Empires KW - Expansion (United States politics) KW - Neocolonialism KW - Political science KW - Anti-imperialist movements KW - Caesarism KW - Chauvinism and jingoism KW - Militarism KW - Medicine and psychology KW - Mental health KW - Psychology, Pathological KW - Madness KW - Mental diseases KW - Mental disorders KW - Disabilities KW - Psychiatric services KW - Nigeria KW - Bundesrepublik Nigeria KW - Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria KW - Federal Military Government (Nigeria) KW - Federation of Nigeria KW - Jamhuriyar Taraiyar Nijeriya KW - Nai-chi-li-ya KW - Naijeria KW - Nigeria (Federation) KW - Nigerii︠a︡ KW - Nigerija KW - Nigeryah KW - Ọ̀hàńjíkọ̀ Ọ̀hànézè Naìjíríyà KW - Orílẹ̀-èdè Olómìniira Àpapọ̀ Nàìjíríà KW - Republic of Nigeria KW - ניגריה KW - ナイジェリア KW - Colonial influence KW - Colonization KW - 19th century nigerian culture. KW - 19th century nigerian history. KW - african history. KW - asylum policy. KW - asylums. KW - british empire. KW - british imperialism. KW - colonial government. KW - colonial psychiatry. KW - colonialism. KW - confinement. KW - cultural studies. KW - historical context. KW - history of psychology. KW - inmates. KW - insane. KW - insanity. KW - lunatics. KW - madness. KW - meaning of madness. KW - medicine and society series. KW - nigeria. KW - nigerian history. KW - nigerian physicians. KW - patients. KW - political studies. KW - politics. KW - psychiatric theory. KW - southern nigeria. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78343689 AB - The colonial government of southern Nigeria began to use asylums to confine the allegedly insane in 1906. These asylums were administered by the British but confined Africans. Yet, as even many in the government recognized, insanity is a condition that shows cultural variation. Who decided the inmates were insane and how? This sophisticated historical study pursues these questions as it examines fascinating source material--writings by African patients in these institutions and the reports of officials, doctors, and others--to discuss the meaning of madness in Nigeria, the development of colonial psychiatry, and the connections between them. Jonathan Sadowsky's well-argued, concise study provides important new insights into the designation of madness across cultural and political frontiers. Imperial Bedlam follows the development of insane asylums from their origins in the nineteenth century to innovative treatment programs developed by Nigerian physicians during the transition to independence. Special attention is given to the writings of those considered "lunatics," a perspective relatively neglected in previous studies of psychiatric institutions in Africa and most other parts of the world. Imperial Bedlam shows how contradictions inherent in colonialism were articulated in both asylum policy and psychiatric theory. It argues that the processes of confinement, the labeling of insanity, and the symptoms of those so labeled reflected not only cultural difference but also political divides embedded in the colonial situation. Imperial Bedlam thus emphasizes not only the cultural background to madness but also its political and experiential dimensions. ER -