ʿAṣfūriyyeh: A History of Madness, Modernity, and War in the Middle East

Abstract

My book, published in 2020, reconstructs the history of ʿAṣfūriyyeh, one of the first ‘modern’ mental hospitals in the Middle East. It uses the rise and fall of this institution as a lens through which to examine the development of modern psychiatric theory and practice in the region as well as the socio-political history of modern Lebanon. ʿAṣfūriyyeh becomes a window into social-policy questions relating to dependency and welfare, definitions of deviance, the relation of mission to empire, state-building processes, and the relation of medical authority to religion. The book also examines the impact of war on health and healthcare infrastructures. Reflecting on the afterlife of this and other institutions, the book calls for a new ‘ethics of memory.’