Psychiatry in the East African colonies: A background to confinement

Abstract

This article is concerned with the discipline of psychiatry in colonial East Africa as it emerged out of the crime and disorder problem to become an intellectually significant 'East African School' of psychiatry. The process of lunacy certification, in particular, provides a snapshot of the medical and political tensions that existed among the medical establishment, the prison system and the colonial courts, all of whom sought to define collective African behaviour. This historical article utilises archaic terminology, such as 'lunatic' or 'lunacy', as these categories were in use at the time.

A social history of serious mental illness

“…Parts of jails were transformed into asylums, such as the asylum in Zanzibar "situated physically inside the walls of the prison, overseen by prison guards, run administratively by the Prison Department and operated essentially as an additional cell block in close proximity to the gallows." 31 Or, in the case of Hoima Gaol in Uganda, simply re-established as Hoima Lunatic Asylum in 1923 as it had become, "without any official designation," a "dumping ground for a variety of inmates whose presence was deemed undesirable or disruptive among the general prison population." 31 Hospitals in West Africa were "all-purpose institutions," with most superintendents not of a medical background.…”

“…31 Or, in the case of Hoima Gaol in Uganda, simply re-established as Hoima Lunatic Asylum in 1923 as it had become, "without any official designation," a "dumping ground for a variety of inmates whose presence was deemed undesirable or disruptive among the general prison population." 31 Hospitals in West Africa were "all-purpose institutions," with most superintendents not of a medical background. 32 "Dark, congested cells, poor bathing facilities, lack of basic supplies and the use of chains" were prevalent.…”

Prosecuting a Prophet: Justice, Psychiatry, and Rebellion in Colonial Kenya

“…British officials had adapted Kenya's lunacy laws from the Indian Lunatic Asylums Act of 1858. For much of the colonial period, the laws governing psychiatric treatment remained ambiguous and arbitrary (see Vaughan 1983;Mahone 2006a). Complicated and often contradictory regulations made the certification of lunacy, the prerequisite for institutionalization, a difficult and bureaucratically taxing task.…”

A pioneer of psy: The first Ugandan psychiatric nurse and her (different) tale of psychiatry in Uganda

“…In recent years, there have been a number of important publications on colonial and post-colonial psychiatry in Africa (e.g., Bullard, 2005Bullard, , 2007Bell, 1991;Heaton, 2013;Jackson, 2005;Keller, 2007;Mahone, 2006Mahone, , 2007McCulloch, 1995;Parle, 2007;Pringle, 2013Pringle, , 2019Sadowsky, 1999). Hardly any work, however, addresses nursing (for a rare exception, see Marks, 2007).…”

“…These psychiatric theories were used to justify colonial control, address problems of colonial governance, and suppress anti-colonial resistance, particularly in settler colonies. The early days of colonial psychiatryboth its practices, but especially its theories-have since come to be the focus of much critical research which reveals how closely the rise of modern psychiatry paralleled, and in some cases even helped to facilitate and justify, colonial rule (Mahone, 2006(Mahone, , 2007McCulloch, 1995).…”