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Outrageous Reason: Madness and Race in Britain and Empire, 1780–2020

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This powerful and disturbing book draws direct comparisons between the plight and fates of African slaves, dehumanised and discarded to sanitise Britain’s trade in human lives and imperial ambitions, and the systemic ‘othering’ of people designated ‘mad’ throughout Western history. Drawing on contemporary historical records, Barham recounts, often in their own words, the stories of black people incarcerated in Kingston, Jamaica’s lunatic asylum, poor white women similarly ejected into the British psychiatric system in the early 20th century for failing to live up to class and gender norms, and most shockingly, black men who have died at the hands of the police and mental health nurses in state custody and psychiatric detention. Endemic racism, greed, cruelty, exploitation and social control are writ large across this account that demands to be read by all those concerned for human rights, mad rights, Black lives and truth-telling about Britain’s shameful colonial past and racist present.

260 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 2023

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About the author

Peter Barham

14 books4 followers
Peter Barham is a British psychologist, historian, and mental health advocate whose career spans more than five decades. His work bridges clinical research, psychoanalysis, historical scholarship, activism, and filmmaking. With doctorates in abnormal psychology from the University of Durham and modern history from the University of Cambridge, Barham has combined academic rigor with hands-on engagement in mental health reform.
A chartered psychologist and elected fellow of the British Psychological Society, he was recognized for his outstanding contributions to psychological understandings of psychosis. He founded the Hamlet Trust, an organization that led grassroots mental health initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe with the support of George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
Barham is the author of several influential books, including Schizophrenia and Human Value (1984; revised 1995), Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War (2004, 2007), and Closing the Asylum: The mental patient in modern society (1992; reissued 2020).







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