Beyond East and West. From the History of Colonial Medicine to a Social History of Medicine(s) in South Asia

Ernst, Waltraud

doi:10.1093/shm/hkm077

Cited by 30 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…While India knew traditional ways of healing and dealing with madness, sequestration of the insane for the purposes of using their labour took place only with the onset of colonialism. 2 Asylums were first established in India in the latter half of the eighteenth century to impound especially European soldiers with mental health problems (Ernst, 1991a). While noting the lack of 'detailed studies of the ways in which medicine and psychiatry became willing and passionate bed-fellows of colonial rule' (Ernst, 1991b: 62), this pioneering author anticipates that '[t]he focus of historical enquiry will be relocated to where it rightly belongs in critical social analysis' (Ernst, 1991b: 63).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While noting the lack of 'detailed studies of the ways in which medicine and psychiatry became willing and passionate bed-fellows of colonial rule' (Ernst, 1991b: 62), this pioneering author anticipates that '[t]he focus of historical enquiry will be relocated to where it rightly belongs in critical social analysis' (Ernst, 1991b: 63). Using the Clark Enquiry of 1868, which covers a period slightly later than that examined by Ernst (1991aErnst ( , 1991b, the present article probes deeper into various interconnected aspects of colonial rule and its consequences for social groups who were treated and detained as mentally ill.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study analyses this unique colonial document to attempt a nuanced, multifaceted reconstruction of the social history of insanity and the insane in India. It seeks, first of all, to understand the relationship between psychiatry and colonialism (see Ernst, 2007a). Recent claims that the focus on 'colonial medicine' limits and neglects other important dimensions are not altogether wrong (Ernst, 2011: 536).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, two full-fledged research projects have explicated the nature of psychiatry in the nineteenth century. Ernst (1991a) has focused on the European insane in British India. Mills (2000) emphasises the disciplinary functions of asylums and the emerging category of 'hemp insanity' during the period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Colonial Psychiatry in Mid-nineteenth Century India

Rajpal

2015

South Asia Research

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This article is largely based on historical analysis of an overlooked and unexplored colonial document. The Sir James Clark Enquiry of 1868, conducted by the Government of India, contains rich evidence of the mindset of policymakers and those who implemented colonial psychiatry in 14 institutions. While the state regarded the asylum system as burdensome, it made ample efforts to sequester the insane. In view of such ambivalence, the article scrutinises the relationship between colonialism and psychiatry, and also probes some reasons behind the state’s inability to establish superior-quality asylums in India. The findings throw new light on the limited colonial agenda of psychiatry in India, highlighting the basically punitive nature of psychiatric infrastructures, linked with attempts to create an ordered society, but above all to minimise costs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Colonial Psychiatry in Mid-nineteenth Century India

Rajpal

2015

South Asia Research

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“…It includes more conventional topics such as the interaction between western medicine and traditional medicine, demography and population, epidemic outbreak, and NGOs and health, and newer ones such as pilgrimage and quarantine, disaster medicine, rural health, the internationalisation of health, the ideas and institutions of the hospital and asylum, nation building, and the tobacco industry. While there has been research on some of these newer topics in Southeast Asia and beyond (Anderson 2009; Anderson and Pols 2012; Ernst 2007; Rogaski 2004), the book invites researchers to dig deeper for health histories at sites seemingly unrelated to health, such as migration prompted by religious practices (Chapter 2), disasters (Chapter 4), nationalist movements (Chapter 11); and to conceptualise histories of health as global studies and international history (Chapters 6 and 9), social history (Chapter 10), and intellectual history (Chapter 11).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tim Harper and Sunil S. Amrith (eds). Histories of Health in Southeast Asia: Perspectives on the Long Twentieth Century. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. 250 pp.

Hong

2016

TRaNS

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The contents of this edited volume are reflected in its title: the many "histories" of health in Southeast Asia and the multiple "perspectives" of looking at the stories of health, the reconstruction of which cannot be accomplished by any single linear narrative. Though the region is not clearly defined but differentially imagined in each chapter, the compilation as a whole captures very well the heterogeneity of the region as well as the multi-linearity of health histories. Another key term in this volume is "transnational" (p. 3). Consisting of the introduction, 13 chapters and three chapter inlets, the book is arranged according to four subthemes: "The Longue Duree", "Health and Crisis", "Uneven Transitions", and "The Politics of Health", with each chapter giving different weightage on transnationality for different health-related topics. Encompassing a wide range of topics, this volume opens up new sites of investigation and complicates our understanding of "health histories". It includes more conventional topics such as the interaction between western medicine and traditional medicine, demography and population, epidemic outbreak, and NGOs and health, and newer ones such as pilgrimage and quarantine, disaster medicine, rural health, the internationalisation of health, the ideas and institutions of the hospital and asylum, nation building, and the tobacco industry. While there has been research on some of these newer topics in Southeast Asia and beyond (Anderson 2009; Anderson and Pols 2012; Ernst 2007; Rogaski 2004), the book invites researchers to dig deeper for health histories at sites seemingly unrelated to health, such as migration prompted by religious practices (Chapter 2), disasters (Chapter 4), nationalist movements (Chapter 11); and to conceptualise histories of health as global studies and international history (Chapters 6 and 9), social history (Chapter 10), and intellectual history (Chapter 11). However, the diverse range of health-related topics also leads to the lack of coherence in the volume. The editors have tried to overcome this problem by encouraging different authors to read and to refer to each other's work. Such mutual reference, however, is limited to chapters on a similar topic or subtheme, such as Chapters 5 and 7, which focus on demographic history and aging respectively. The absence of a shared research focus and conceptual framework among contributors of varied expertise, such as in history, anthropology, policy research, area studies, political science, and medical science, is perhaps another factor that contributed to the lack of mutual reference between the authors. Although transnationality is conceived as an approach by the editors, the term is not methodologically defined and clearly operationalised as a research method. Rather, the editors justify the use of the term on the grounds that "the experience of Southeast Asia has always been transnational" (p. 3). What this approach intends to achieve and how it can add to our understanding of health histories in the region is ...

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Disease and medicine

Peckham

2016

The Encyclopedia of Empire

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Since the sedentarization of human societies, interconnected pathways, linking disparate territories and peoples, have provided channels for disease to spread. Empire facilitated this globalization of infection, contributing to the transformation of disease ecologies. A shrinking world combined with environmental factors to shape imperial histories: from Antiquity to the contemporary world, where the legacy of imperialism continues to influence the global distribution of disease and access to healthcare. Particularly during the 19th century, empire was medicalized as Western biomedicine became intertwined with colonial rule and the assimilation of indigenous peoples into the institutions of the modern state. Empire also helped to foster trans‐national networks of disease surveillance, providing an incipient global system of disease prevention. Rethinking empire through the lens of disease and medicine serves to underscore the ecological dimension of empire and the constitutive interrelationship between politics, society, and the environment.

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Beyond East and West. From the History of Colonial Medicine to a Social History of Medicine(s) in South Asia

Cited by 30 publications

References 37 publications

Colonial Psychiatry in Mid-nineteenth Century India

Colonial Psychiatry in Mid-nineteenth Century India

Tim Harper and Sunil S. Amrith (eds). Histories of Health in Southeast Asia: Perspectives on the Long Twentieth Century. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. 250 pp.

Disease and medicine

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