Taking Science to the Colonies: Psychiatric Innovation in France and North Africa

Abstract

Historians have in recent years increasingly questioned standard assumptions about the relationship between science and imperialism. For decades, scholars characterized colonial scientific development as following an established pattern of gradual diffusion as knowledge and innovation moved outward from Europe to the margins of empire.1 By these accounts, activity at the periphery consisted of simple datagathering and specimen-collection, dependent upon and derivative from the center, where prestigious institutions, associations, and organizations confirmed findings and generated conclusions. By the same token, the only legitimate scientific pathway from colony to colony passed through metropolitan sites like London, Paris, and Amsterdam, hubs for the dissemination of imperial knowledge. Yet scholars from a range of disciplines now see a more complex interaction unfolding under imperialism. The entrepreneurial spirit of many settler scientists, the uses of science and technology in the ideological defense of domination, and the lack of professional scrutiny in many colonial settings created unique opportunities for experimentation and innovation.2 According to much of this work, overseas territories served as vast laboratories for testing and perfecting a range of medical, scientific, and social projects before their implementation in European settings.3