Mental Health in Historical Perspective Series Editors Cathy Coleborne Department of History The University of Waikato Hamilton, New Zealand Matthew Smith History of Psychiatry University of Strathclyde Glasgow, United Kingdom
Aims of the Series Covering all historical periods and geographical contexts, the series explores how mental illness has been understood, experienced, diagnosed, treated and contested. It will publish works that engage actively with contemporary debates related to mental health and, as such, will be of interest not only to historians, but also mental health professionals, patients and policy makers. With its focus on mental health, rather than just psychiatry, the series will endeavour to provide more patient-centred histories. Although this has long been an aim of health historians, it has not been realised, and this series aims to change that. The scope of the series is kept as broad as possible to attract good quality proposals about all aspects of the history of mental health from all periods.the series emphasises interdisciplinary approaches to the field of study, and encourages short titles, longer works, collections, and titles which stretch the boundaries of academic publishing in new ways. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14806
Marjory Harper Editor Migration and Mental Health Past and Present
Editor Marjory Harper School of Divinity, History and Philosophy University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK ISBN 978-1-137-52967-1 ISBN 978-1-137-52968-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52968-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942525 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London
In memory of Dr Andrew McKie (1957 2013) Lecturer in Mental Health, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editor wishes to thank the Wellcome Trust for the award of a conference grant to support the symposium which has led to this book. She also wishes to thank all the contributors to the symposium and book for their enthusiasm, insights, and encouragement, as well as the prompt submission of material. Their consistent support ensured that the editing process was a pleasure rather than a pain. vii
CONTENTS Part I Conceptual Approaches 1 1 Introduction 3 Marjory Harper 2 Unravelling Mental Illness : What Exactly Are We Talking About? 21 John Swinton 3 Critical Perspectives on Histories of Madness and Migration 37 Sergei Shubin Part II Historical Perspectives 59 4 On Being Insane in Alien Places: Case Histories from British India, c. 1800 1930 61 Waltraud Ernst ix
x CONTENTS 5 Unsettled States: Madness and Migration in Cape Town, c. 1920 85 Will Jackson 6 Ethnicities and Environments: Perceptions of Alienation and Mental Illness Among Scottish and Scandinavian Settlers in North America, c. 1870 c. 1914 105 Marjory Harper 7 Stories of Immigrant Isolation and Despair: Canadian Novels and Memoirs Since the 1850s 129 Marilyn Barber 8 Mad Migrants and the Reach of English Civil Law 149 James Moran and Lisa Chilton 9 Canada s Deportation of Mentally and Morally Defective Female Immigrants After the Second World War 171 Ellen Scheinberg Part III Anthropological and Personal Reflections 199 10 Between the Past and the Future: Migration and Melancholic Nationalism in Iceland 201 Arnar Árnason 11 Doing Harm or Doing Good? Some Reflections on the Impact of Social Work and Social Policy on the Mental Health of Commonwealth Immigrants to the UK in the Twentieth Century 221 Juliet Cheetham
CONTENTS xi 12 Is Migration Good For You? A Psychiatric and Historical Perspective 239 James Finlayson and Marjory Harper Bibliography 259 Index 263
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS Arnar Árnason is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. Marilyn Barber is Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, Ottawa. Juliet Cheetham is Professor and former Director of the Social Work Research Centre at the University of Stirling, and a former probation officer and later Social Work Commissioner with the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. Lisa Chilton is Associate Professor of History at the University of Prince Edward Island. Waltraud Ernst is Professor in the History of Medicine at Oxford Brookes University and Adjunct Professor at St John s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India. James Finlayson is a consultant psychiatrist and former general practitioner in the Hebrides, now working as a medico-legal specialist in psychiatry. Marjory Harper is Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen and Honorary Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Will Jackson is Lecturer in Imperial History at the University of Leeds. James Moran is Associate Professor of History at the University of Prince Edward Island. Ellen Scheinberg is an Archivist, and President of Heritage Professionals, Toronto, a heritage consulting company that delivers archival, museum and information management services. xiii
xiv NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS Sergei Shubin is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, and Director of the Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University. John Swinton is Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University of Aberdeen. He previously worked as a nurse, initially within the field of mental health, and as a hospital chaplain, latterly as a community mental health chaplain.
LIST OF TABLES Table 9.1 Deportation offences by gender (1949) 176 Table 9.2 Country of citizenship 177 Table 9.3 Vocations of female deportees 178 Table 9.4 Deportation results for female deportees charged with mental health offences (1946 1956) 184 Table 10.1 etc. 204 xv