A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria

Until the establishment of psychiatric institutions in the colonial Maghreb in the 1930s, the consensus of most colonial French psychiatrists was that alcoholism had previously been unknown amongst Muslim North Africans, but that it was quickly becoming a medical, social and economic problem. They v...

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Main Author: Nina Salouâ Studer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Université de Provence 2022-09-01
Series:Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/17818
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author Nina Salouâ Studer
author_facet Nina Salouâ Studer
author_sort Nina Salouâ Studer
collection DOAJ
description Until the establishment of psychiatric institutions in the colonial Maghreb in the 1930s, the consensus of most colonial French psychiatrists was that alcoholism had previously been unknown amongst Muslim North Africans, but that it was quickly becoming a medical, social and economic problem. They voiced fears of an explosion in numbers of psychiatric patients due to this increase in alcoholism and a corresponding increase in crimes committed by intoxicated Muslim men. These psychiatrists also described alcoholism as a serious problem among male and female French settlers in Algeria, while suggesting that most Muslim women did not consume any alcohol, even though they regularly commented on the excessive alcohol consumption of certain marginalised Muslim women they encountered. These accounts strongly pathologised and criminalised alcohol-drinking Muslims, framing them as being just one glass away from ending up in a prison or psychiatric hospital.
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series Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
spelling doaj-art-35a8c69b2f1a4061901e063a68f9c8072025-01-09T13:22:39ZengUniversité de ProvenceRevue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée0997-13272105-22712022-09-0115110512210.4000/remmm.17818A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial AlgeriaNina Salouâ StuderUntil the establishment of psychiatric institutions in the colonial Maghreb in the 1930s, the consensus of most colonial French psychiatrists was that alcoholism had previously been unknown amongst Muslim North Africans, but that it was quickly becoming a medical, social and economic problem. They voiced fears of an explosion in numbers of psychiatric patients due to this increase in alcoholism and a corresponding increase in crimes committed by intoxicated Muslim men. These psychiatrists also described alcoholism as a serious problem among male and female French settlers in Algeria, while suggesting that most Muslim women did not consume any alcohol, even though they regularly commented on the excessive alcohol consumption of certain marginalised Muslim women they encountered. These accounts strongly pathologised and criminalised alcohol-drinking Muslims, framing them as being just one glass away from ending up in a prison or psychiatric hospital.https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/17818genderAlgeriaalcoholColonialismpsychiatry
spellingShingle Nina Salouâ Studer
A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
gender
Algeria
alcohol
Colonialism
psychiatry
title A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
title_full A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
title_fullStr A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
title_full_unstemmed A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
title_short A Drinking Problem: French Psychiatric Fears about the Increase in Muslim Alcoholics in Colonial Algeria
title_sort drinking problem french psychiatric fears about the increase in muslim alcoholics in colonial algeria
topic gender
Algeria
alcohol
Colonialism
psychiatry
url https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/17818
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