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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.

Hospitals, Psychiatric --- Colonialism. --- history. --- Nigeria. --- Federal Republic of Nigeria --- Psychiatric hospitals --- Mentally ill --- Mental illness --- Psychiatry --- Imperialism --- Hôpitaux psychiatriques --- Malades mentaux --- Maladies mentales --- Psychiatrie --- Impérialisme --- history --- History. --- Care --- Treatment --- Health aspects --- History --- Histoire --- Soins --- Traitement --- Aspect sanitaire --- Hospitals --- Insane asylums --- Mental hospitals --- Mental institutions --- Psychiatry in general hospitals --- Asylums --- Mental health facilities --- Specialty hospitals --- Colonialism --- Empires --- Expansion (United States politics) --- Neocolonialism --- Political science --- Anti-imperialist movements --- Caesarism --- Chauvinism and jingoism --- Militarism --- Medicine and psychology --- Mental health --- Psychology, Pathological --- Madness --- Mental diseases --- Mental disorders --- Disabilities --- Psychiatric services --- Nigeria --- Bundesrepublik Nigeria --- Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria --- Federal Military Government (Nigeria) --- Federation of Nigeria --- Jamhuriyar Taraiyar Nijeriya --- Nai-chi-li-ya --- Naijeria --- Nigeria (Federation) --- Nigerii︠a︡ --- Nigerija --- Nigeryah --- Ọ̀hàńjíkọ̀ Ọ̀hànézè Naìjíríyà --- Orílẹ̀-èdè Olómìniira Àpapọ̀ Nàìjíríà --- Republic of Nigeria --- ניגריה --- ナイジェリア --- Colonial influence --- Colonization --- 19th century nigerian culture. --- 19th century nigerian history. --- african history. --- asylum policy. --- asylums. --- british empire. --- british imperialism. --- colonial government. --- colonial psychiatry. --- colonialism. --- confinement. --- cultural studies. --- historical context. --- history of psychology. --- inmates. --- insane. --- insanity. --- lunatics. --- madness. --- meaning of madness. --- medicine and society series. --- nigeria. --- nigerian history. --- nigerian physicians. --- patients. --- political studies. --- politics. --- psychiatric theory. --- southern nigeria.