Anthem Press Mad Tales from the Raj: Colonial Psychiatry in South Asia, 1800-58 (Anthem South Asian Studies)

‘Mad Tales from the Raj’ is an authoritative assessment of western psychiatry within the context of British colonialism. This revised version provides a comprehensive study of official attitudes and practices in relation to both Indian and European patients during the dominance of the British East India Company. It is fascinating reading not only to students of colonial history, medical sociology and related disciplines, but to all those with a general interest in life in the colonies. Review 'This short book on European insanity and its treatment in the British Raj is a welcome addition to the growing corpus of writing on the encounter between Western medicine and indigenous societies.' --Social History of Medicine Book Description 'Mad Tales from the Raj' provides a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of British colonial psychiatry during the East India Company’s rule in India. About the Author Waltraud Ernst is Professor in the History of Medicine at Oxford Brookes University. She has written widely on various aspects of the history of colonial psychiatry. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Mad Tales from the Raj Colonial Psychiatry in South Asia, 1800–58 By Waltraud Ernst Wimbledon Publishing Company Copyright © 2010 Waltraud Ernst All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84331-881-1 Contents List of Illustrations, ix, Preface, xi, Chapter 1. Introduction: Colonizing the Mind, 1, Chapter 2. Madness and the Politics of Colonial Rule, 11, Chapter 3. The Institutions, 39, Chapter 4. The Medical Profession, 69, Chapter 5. The Patients, 87, Chapter 6. Medical Theories and Practices, 99, Chapter 7. Conclusion: 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen ...', 125, Primary Sources, 133, Notes, 137, Index, 151, CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: COLONIZING THE MIND Some 'mysterious transformation' is said to have affected Westerners once they proceeded East of Suez. The view that experience of life in an alien Eastern country set travellers and expatriates apart from their fellow countrymen was common amongst those who reflected upon the effect on generations of Europeans of life in the Orient. So much was the East — West encounter perceived as leaving its mark on people's personality that those who had lived in the Orient for some time were regarded as a 'distinct species'. Their peculiar views, attitudes and behaviour were both excused and explained by reference to life abroad and on return to Europe they were treated 'either with awed bewilderment or humorous ridicule'. What sparked off this 'mysterious transformation' has since the eighteenth century been subject to speculation. Some assumed that it was the alien environment that was to blame, in that polite manners and sociable behaviour were 'jungled out' of those exposed to prolonged life in the tropical forests and arid plains of the Indian peninsula. Others were inclined to see the lack of 'restraint of parents, relatives and friends' as upsetting the mental balance and emotional inhibition of a number of those young, predominantly male, griffins, or green newcomers who, being 'thrown together' with others of their age, became 'violent and intractable'. Yet others went so far as to deny that anybody who lacked first-hand experience of life in the East could 'ever really understand what it was like' – thus pre-empting any attempt by the uninitiated to come to grips with the factors that are said to have made all expatriates 'members of one great family, aliens under one sky'. A variety of explanations have been advanced for the European's alleged character change under conditions of 'heat and dust' in the Orient's plains and hills, but one has commonly been agreed upon: travellers, merchants, diplomats and soldiers from a variety of different lands were susceptible to it. The psychological metamorphosis of the English has, nevertheless, been characterized as quite distinct from the process of cul