Is Drapetomania a myth? By @HSpandler Read the full article here- asylummagazine.org/2023/09/is-dra…
@AsylumMagUK @HSpandler Annabel Sowemimo's recent book Divided is very interesting on this. It goes into how the same guy pathologised Black bodies by suggesting Black people were less sensitive to pain. Unlike his concept of Drapetomania, this caught on in general medicine and has been very harmful.
@AsylumMagUK @HSpandler One of my main impressions on the matter of Cartwright from reading Divided is that his impact shows how racism and white supremacy cut through all medicine, somatic no less than psychiatric.
@DrRJChapman @AsylumMagUK @HSpandler What is odd and absolutely vile about the article is that at the time of Cartwright, there was no such thing as a diagnosis manual. Yet, he managed to publish in the then equivalent. The whiteness of “mystifying” or turning Black experience into delusions. 🤢🤮
@Iamhereforit1 @AsylumMagUK @HSpandler Yes even if it didn't catch on in practice the very fact it got published in a journal says a lot about the state of things at the time! That said, race science articles still get published in journals today...
@DrRJChapman @AsylumMagUK @HSpandler So much of a “myth”