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- Title
"In the Cheapest Way Possible…": Responsibility and the failure of improvement at the Kingston Lunatic Asylum, 1914-1945.
- Authors
Heuring, Darcy Hughes
- Abstract
The article looks at attempts to improve sanitation and patient living conditions at the Kingston Lunatic Asylum in Kingston, Jamaica during the early 20th century. According to the author, popular attitudes towards the insane, a lack of colonial funding, and choices made by Jamaican politicians on behalf of their middle- and upper-class constituents stalled progress on improving the facility long after its problems had been identified. It is suggested that conflicts over economic and moral responsibility for the asylum's patients revealed existing divisions among Jamaicans and within the project of British imperialism. Details on the British Colonial Development and Welfare (CDW) Act of 1940 are presented. Social stigmas surrounding mental health, race, and poverty are also discussed.
- Subjects
KINGSTON (Jamaica); JAMAICA; UNITED Kingdom; ASYLUMS (Institutions); IMPERIALISM; MENTAL health policy; MENTAL health &; social status; MENTAL health facilities; FINANCE; HISTORY
- Publication
Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History, 2011, Vol 12, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1532-5768
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/cch.2011.0033