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Madness and the Making of a Colonial Order in Burma*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2012

JONATHAN SAHA
JONATHAN SAHA*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In general, during the nineteenth century the British were indifferent to the condition of the insane in colonial Burma. This was most apparent in the Rangoon lunatic asylum, which was a neglected institution reformed reluctantly and episodically following internal crises of discipline and the occasional public scandal. However, whilst psychiatry was generally neglected, British officials did intervene when and where insanity threatened the colonial order. This occurred in the criminal courts where the presence of suspected lunatics was disruptive to the administration of justice. Insanity was also a problem for the colonial regime within the European community, where erratic behaviour was viewed as a threat to racial prestige. This paper shows how, despite its neglected status in Burma, psychiatric knowledge contributed to British understandings of Burman masculinity and to the maintenance of colonial norms of European behaviour.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 406 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and would also like to thank Ian Brown, Rachel E. Johnson, Michael Charney and Ravi Ahuja for their comments on versions of this paper, in its various stages and guises.

References

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100 IOR, P/6, Burma Home Proceedings, 3 February 1873.

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106 IOR, L/P&J/6/301 File 811, Public and Judicial Proceedings, 18 April 1891.

107 Ibid.

108 Ibid.

109 The Manchester Times, 15 May 1891.

110 IOR, P/3809, Burma Home Proceedings, 17 October 1891.

111 IOR, L/P&J/6/301, File 941, Public and Judicial Proceedings, 4 June 1891.

112 Ibid., 3 June 1891.

113 IOR, L/P&J/6/302, File 1189, Public and Judicial Proceedings, 9 July 1891.

114 IOR, P/3809, Burma Home Proceedings, 20 August 1891.

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