Insanity, Race and Colonialism: Managing Mental Disorder in the Post-Emancipation British Caribbean, 1838-1914 (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies)

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 1914. The exposure of deplorable conditions and flagrant abuses in the public lunatic asylum in Kingston, Jamaica, in the late 1850s exemplified the defective nature of provision for mentally disordered people throughout the region. Thereafter, British-inspired 'civilising' reforms were gradually implemented in the main Caribbean territories. However, in some of the region's other colonies, improvements were little more than cosmetic. The circumstances that propelled people into the lunatic asylums are explored, as are the characteristics and experiences of those who inhabited the institutions. The dilemmas and contradictions apparent in asylum management highlighted the perennial difficulties of the British imperial project in action Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-5 Caribbean Institutions in Context....Pages 6-28 The Early Lunatic Asylums....Pages 29-48 Scandal in Jamaica — The Kingston Lunatic Asylum....Pages 49-74 Reform — The Jamaica Lunatic Asylum....Pages 75-96 Colonial Asylums in Transition....Pages 97-125 Pathways to the Asylum....Pages 126-152 The Patient Challenge....Pages 153-172 The Colonial Asylum Regime....Pages 173-191 Conclusion....Pages 192-197 Back Matter....Pages 198-285