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Insanity on the move

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TitleInfo
Title
Insanity on the move
SubTitle
the “alien insane” in modern America, 1882-1930
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Shin
NamePart (type = given)
Ji-Hye
NamePart (type = date)
1980-
DisplayForm
Ji-Hye Shin
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
author
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Yans
NamePart (type = given)
Virginia
DisplayForm
Virginia Yans
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
chair
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Wailoo
NamePart (type = given)
Keith
DisplayForm
Keith Wailoo
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Isenberg
NamePart (type = given)
Alison
DisplayForm
Alison Isenberg
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Lee
NamePart (type = given)
Catherine
DisplayForm
Catherine Lee
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2013
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2013-10
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2b); (type = code)
eng
Abstract (type = abstract)
This dissertation examines the “alien insane” and their place in modern America between 1882 and 1930. It makes original contributions using the “alien insane”—allegedly insane immigrants, who were at once objects of medical surveillance and candidates of deportation, hospital commitment, and citizenship—as an analytical tool to examine how “insanity,” a diagnostic category, became understood as a bureaucratic and racial construction. It also sheds light on the contested interpretations of insanity, the development of American immigration policy and federal powers, and the involvement of state and medical bureaucracies in defining American citizenship. The “alien insane” were deeply implicated in the Progressive discourses of civilization and mobility. Analysis of the discourses explains why and how immigration came to be associated with insanity at this particular moment in American history when the field of psychiatry was professionalized and the public anxiety over new immigration grew. In addition to drawing the line between civilized and settling Europeans and uncivilized and sojourning Asians, these discourses revealed the contemporary racial ideology and gave a new meaning to immigrants’ mobility, which has been taken for granted in immigration studies. Through the “alien insane,” federal, state, and international governments as well as immigration officials, state hospital doctors, social workers, steamship companies, and immigrant communities joined to define “normal” behavior and worthy citizenship. Unlike other deportees, the “alien insane” required costly institutionalization and humanitarian attention; thus, their reception and care raised questions on the definition of citizenship for immigrants and for American citizens abroad, themselves subject to deportation by foreign states upon leaving their homeland. Moving beyond the immigration stations where historians most commonly encounter immigrant subjects, this study employs neglected and previously unavailable sources, including immigrant patient files of state mental hospitals, to investigate racialization and institutionalization of the “alien insane.” Narratives by American authors and by immigrants also help reexamine immigrants’ perspectives of insanity, assimilation, and American life. This study is about the “alien insane,” but it is also about the work they performed for American culture, for immigration policy, and for both sending and receiving countries to set national boundaries and define good citizens.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
History
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Immigrants--Mental health--United States--History--19th century
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Immigrants--Mental health--United States--History--20th century
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Mentally ill--Commitment and detention--United States
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Identifier
ETD_5122
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3CR5RDG
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
vii, 342 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Ji-Hye Shin
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy--History--19th century
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy--History--20th century
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Shin
GivenName
Ji-Hye
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2013-10-01 18:35:44
AssociatedEntity
Name
Ji-Hye Shin
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2013-10-31
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = end)
2015-10-31
Type
Embargo
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after October 31st, 2015.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical

RULTechMD (ID = TECHNICAL1)
ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem (VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
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