Black skin, white coats: Nigerian psychiatrists, decolonization, and the globalization of psychiatry

261 Pages·2013·1.213 MB·English

by  Heaton, Matthew M

Black Skin, White Coats
new african histories series
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Matthew M. Heaton, Black Skin, White Coats: Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization,
and the Globalization of Psychiatry
Black Skin, White Coats
Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization,
and the Globalization of Psychiatry
w
matthew m. Heaton
ohio university press athens
w
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heaton, Matthew M., author.
Black skin, white coats : Nigerian psychiatrists, decolonization, and the globalization
of psychiatry / Matthew M. Heaton.
pages cm. — (New African histories)
ISBN 978-0-8214-2070-6 (pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-4473-3 (electronic)
1. Psychiatry—Nigeria--History. 2. Cultural psychiatry—Nigeria. 3. Mentally
ill—Care—Nigeria—History. 4. Mental illness—Treatment—Nigeria--History.
5. Nigeria—Colonial influence—Health aspects—History. I. Title. II. Series:
New African histories series.
rc438.H43 2013
362.209669—dc23 2013027515
For
Ann

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing
the History of Psychiatry 1
Chapter 1 Colonial Institutions and Networks
of Ethnopsychiatry 29
Chapter 2 Decolonizing Psychiatric Institutions
and Networks 51
Chapter 3 Mentally Ill Nigerian Immigrants in the
United Kingdom: The International Dimensions
of Decolonizing Psychiatry 79
Chapter 4 Schizophrenia, Depression, and
“Brain-Fag Syndrome”: Diagnosis and
the Boundaries of Culture 104
Chapter 5 Gatekeepers of the Mind: Psychotherapy
and “Traditional” Healers 131
Chapter 6 The Paradoxes of Psychoactive Drugs 161
Conclusion Nigerian Psychiatrists and the Globalization
of Psychiatry 184
Notes 199
Bibliography 229
Index 245
vii

Acknowledgments
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to so many people who made the com-
pletion of this project possible. This book grew out of a dissertation written
for the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin. I am
grateful for the financial support of the Department of History and the John
L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies at UT, which
facilitated research trips to Nigeria and the United Kingdom in 2004 and
2005. I am also very thankful to Toyin Falola, under whose mentorship this
research began and through whose friendship and advice it has continued to
develop these many years. The support and advice of many others has also
shaped this work. I would particularly like to thank Barbara Harlow, A. G.
Hopkins, Bruce Hunt, and Juliet E. K. Walker for their formative influence,
which has been greater than they all know.
This research would also not have been possible without the assistance
of friends in Nigeria whose kindness and generosity sustained me and facili-
tated my work. Saheed Aderinto and family hosted me in Ibadan for many
months in 2004 and 2005 and introduced me to the national archives there.
I would also like to thank Demola Babalola and family for their generous
hospitality in Lagos and Ilé-Ifè.≥ In Kaduna, I owe Hauwa Yusuf and family
more than I can ever repay for the kindness they showed me. I also want to
offer my heartfelt appreciation to Olayemi Akinwumi for his generous gifts
of time and help. My thanks also go out to the staff at the branches of the
Nigerian National Archives, particularly “Mr. Mike” in Ibadan and Ibrahim
Abdu in Kaduna. Dr. Timothy Adebowale at Aro Neuropsychiatric Hospital
provided me with important insights for which I am very grateful.
I also conducted research for this project at the National Archives of
the United Kingdom, Public Records Office, Kew; and the archives of the
World Health Organization. I would like to thank the staffs of these organi-
zations for their assistance, particularly Marie Villemin-Partow and Thomas
Allen at the WHO.
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