A new book by Raphaël Gallien explores how madness was understood and documented in colonial Madagascar, using hospital records and personal accounts.
New book explores madness in colonial Madagascar
A new book by Raphaël Gallien, titled Losing One's Reason. Madness and Colonization in Madagascar, published by La Découverte in 2026, examines the history of madness in colonial situations, particularly in Madagascar. The book is based on hundreds of internment records from the Anjanamasina hospital, which opened in 1912 on the island.Gallien's academic background
Raphaël Gallien, a researcher at the CNRS, contributes to the growing field of study on the history of madness, especially within the context of the European research project "A History of Madness in West Africa," of which he is also a participant. His work builds on existing scholarship while offering new insights from Malagasy sources.Sources and methodology
The book uses administrative records, family correspondences, photographs, and other documents to explore how delirium can be considered a documentary source and an object of historical study. Gallien traces pre-colonial dynamics in Malagasy society and the fractures caused by colonization, highlighting themes such as the segregation of pavilions and the trauma of the conquest.Themes and case studies
The book also discusses the disorientation of colonists, the stigmas of the 1947 insurrection and its repression, and the case of Joseph H., who in 1924 believed he had become an automobile. Gallien examines how colonial propaganda around automobiles in the early 20th century collided with the absence of roads, leading to cars often being pushed by human arms, referred to as "anthropomobiles."
