Homeless Wanderers: Movement and Mental Illness in the Cape Colony in the Nineteenth Century

LUNCHTIME LECTURE 5 April 2016

Sally Swart

Homeless Wanderers: Movement and Mental Illness in the Cape Colony in the nineteenth Century

There are a number of studies describing colonial lunatic asylums, and more broadly, colonial psychiatry and its operation in Africa. This monograph breaks new ground in tracing the route of people thought to be 'of unsound mind' from their homes and families to eventual committal to a lunatic asylum in the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth century.
The central concern is with the complex interface between lunacy legislation, colonial government, families and communities, and the ways in which these aspects affected individuals' experiences of treatment both before and after committal to a lunatic asylum. A theme linking each chapter is the movement of the insane: in and out of gaols, asylums and families; in and out of the colony by land or sea; and journeys by ship, cart, train or horse in search of care.
The management of the insane in the Cape Colony, and the legal and medical institutions with primary responsibility for delivering humane care to this intensely vulnerable group, gives a unique perspective on the operation of colonialism itself. Recommended for: Medical historians; historians of British colonialism, the history of the family and Jewish history; psychiatrists and psychologists.

Dr Sally Swartz

Associate Professor Department of Psychology UCT

Ph.D. (UCT)

Research interests

Psychotherapy, psychoanalytic practice inSouth Africa, history of psychiatry, psychology and colonialism.

Teaching interests and responsibilities

Presently, all my teaching is at the M.A. clinical level. I am the director of the Child Guidance Clinic, and I teach on both the M.A. Clinical I and Clinical II years. Please see theclinic homepagefor more details.

Selected Publications

Swartz, S. (2000). Narrating the body: emerging perspectives on mind-body relationships in self and intersubjective psychoanalytic psychotherapy.Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy inSouth Africa8(1): 21-35.

Swartz, S. (1999). Lost Lives: gender, history and mental illness in theCape, 1891-1910.Feminism & Psychology9(2): 152-158.

Swartz, S. (1999). Using psychodynamic formulations in South African clinical settings.South African Journal of Psychology29(1): 42-48.

Swartz, S. (1999). "Work of mercy and necessity". British rule and psychiatric practice in theCapecolony, 1891-1910.International Journal of Mental Health28(2): 72-90.

Swartz, S, and Ismail, F. (2001) A motley crowd: The emergence of [personality disorder as a diagnostic category in early twentieth-century South African psychiatry.History of Psychiatry,12, 157-176.

Louw, J. & Swartz, S. (2001) An English asylum in Africa: Uses of space in Valkenberg Asylum,CapeColony, 1891-1916.History of Psychology.

Contact Details

Tel: 650-3425
Room Number 18 - Child Guidance Clinic - Isaac
Albow Building
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