Yasmin Shafei - Dangerous Deviants: A History of Care for the Mentally Ill in Egypt
This lecture will be hosted on Thursday, 14 May 2026 at 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm.
The study of mental illnesses and asylums have emerged as fundamental areas of historical inquiry. Research on disability studies and the histories of mental health are growing fields encouraging a rethinking of the cultural, social, economic, and political histories of the Middle East. The history of mental asylums reflects the multiple ways in which colonial governments and modern nation-states defined their national projects and relationships with their subjects.
Studying colonial asylums, psychiatry, and constructions of mental illnesses is central to understanding Egypt’s history, shedding light on significant historical processes such as colonization, state building, modernization, medicalization, and professionalization.
Using mental health as the lens through which to examine the colonial state and its engagement with various actors, the study examines a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including citizen petitions (‘arḍaḥāls), referral memoranda (tadhkaras), Ministry of Interior reports, Reports of the Lunacy Division and the Department of Sanitary Services and Public Health, as well as government and Foreign Office correspondences. The study investigates the history of Egypt’s asylums and their relationship with the state, interrogating their significance to the British occupation and their role in the maintenance of order and security. It also moves beyond the asylum itself, focusing on the experiences of the asylum’s patients and their families.
About the Speaker
Yasmin Shafei is a is a medical historian of the modern Middle East and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Economic, Legal, and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) in Cairo. She holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from the American University of Beirut and an MA and BA in International Relations from the American University in Cairo. Her research focuses on the intersections of colonial studies and the histories of medicine. She defended her dissertation in 2024, exploring documents at the National Archives in Egypt and the UK to investigate the impact of British colonial rule on Egypt’s psychiatric hospitals and patients, interrogating intersections of race, class, and gender. Her articles have appeared in several journals including the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and RAWI. Her talk is based on her chapter in the upcoming book “Disability History in the Modern Middle East,” published by Bloomsbury Press in August 2026.
Attention!
The lecture starts at 6 pm. The number of seats is limited and we work on a first-come, first-served basis. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier in case the lecture room reaches its full capacity.
