Madness and Women in Egypt at the End of the Nineteenth Century
Author: Hoda El-Saadi - أميمة أبو بكر - رمضان الخولي
Category: Memory Papers
This is the third issue of the occasional papers Awraq Al thakira (Papers of Memory), which includes two papers: the first by Hoda El-Saadi is entitled “The Change in the Concept of Madness and its Effect on Women and Society in Egypt at the End of the Nineteenth Century”. It attempts to trace the effect of European traditions and definitions of mental disease, which were transfered to Egypt because of European intervention, and gradually replaced local traditions. Such effects are traced at the level of the perception of madness in society and the impact of this perception on the position of women, including both patients and those treating mental illness. The second paper by, Ramadan El-Kholy, focuses on the legal aspects of madness in nineteenth-century Egypt, especially as they pertain to women. It reconsiders the basic assumptions commonly held by scholars in the field by analyzing the interaction between legal and juridical institutions, and the concepts of madness and modernity.