TORONTO – Since the Age of Enlightenment, Black bodies have been sites of trauma. Drawing on anti-colonial theory, “From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter” interrogates how this has shaped understandings of Black life, Black trauma and Black responses to trauma within psychiatry and other mental health professions.
Focusing on the impact of racism on the mental health of Black communities in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., author Ingrid R.G. Waldron examines the structural inequities that have contributed to the legacy of racial trauma in Black communities. Drawing on existing literature, as well as the voices of Black Canadians who participated in recent studies conducted by the author, Waldron uses an intersectional analysis to pinpoint how the intersections of race, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age and citizenship status shape experiences of racial trauma, mental illness and help-seeking in Black communities. Tracing the ideological representations of Black people within psychiatric and other mental health institutions that influence the diagnoses applied to them, chapters also highlight the beliefs and perceptions Black communities hold about mental health and help-seeking.
A timely challenge to the colonial and imperial legacy of psychiatry, “From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter” demonstrates how the politics of race and psychiatric diagnosis collide when diagnosing Black people and what this means for our current public health crisis.
“From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter”
Ingrid R.G. Waldron | Nov. 25, 2024 | Emerald Publishing
Race and Ethnic Studies / Discrimination and Racism / Mental Health
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Ingrid Waldron is Professor and HOPE Chair in Peace and Health in the Global Peace and Social Justice Program in the Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University. Her research focuses on the health and mental health impacts of racism and other forms of discrimination in Black and other racialized communities, including environmental and climate justice in Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities, including mental illness, dementia, cancer, COVID-19, as well as the health and mental health effects of environmental racism and climate change injustices. Waldron is the author of the book “There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities,” which was turned into a 2020 Netflix documentary of the same name and was co-produced by Waldron, actor Elliot Page, and Ian Daniel. She is the founder and Director of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health Project (The ENRICH Project) and helped develop the federal private members bill a National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice (Bill C-226). Bill C-226 was approved at the Senate on June 13, 2024, and given royal assent on June 20, 2024, becoming the first environmental justice law in Canada. Dr. Waldron’s book, “From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter: Tracing the Impacts of Racial Trauma in Black Communities from the Colonial Era to the Present,” was published on November 25, 2024. It traces experiences of racial trauma in Black communities in Canada, the US and the UK from the colonial era to the present.
Follow Ingrid R.G. Waldron on Twitter (X) @ingrid_waldron
PRAISE FOR INGRID R.G. WALDRON
“This book is illuminating and groundbreaking in many ways for its examination of how anti-Black racism and the interstices of identities contribute to the legacy of racial trauma in Black communities in Canada, the US, and the UK. Its comparative edge makes the book a must read for all interested in fighting anti-Blackness in Black health, racial trauma and beyond. By tracing perceptions of the Black body in the field of psychiatry, and how these perceptions have informed diagnosis and treatment from the colonial era to the present, readers get new exposures. The book drives home much-needed considerations to be had and actions to be taken to address racial trauma and mental illness in Black communities in Canada, the US and the UK.” — George J. Sefa Dei, Professor of Social Justice Education & Director Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies, OISE, University of Toronto
“Ingrid R.G. Waldron has done something truly remarkable: authored a definitive exploration of the effects of racism on Black mental health. From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter is a powerful, systematic and wholly convincing account of racial trauma – and of the mental and physical effects and consequences that Black and other racialized people experience after being exposed to racism. The book represents a brilliant summation of the strengths and limitations of our efforts to intervene to arrest racism’s searing psychological effects. This is required reading for anyone who wants to learn more about how the crimes of past shape the psyches of the future; and about what we can do to start the process of making things right.” — Jonathan M. Metzl, author of “What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms”
In an interview, Ingrid R.G. Waldron can discuss:
- Foundations of racial trauma in psychiatry – The late 19th-century debate on the supposed absence of “madness” among non-White populations reinforced harmful stereotypes about Black resilience and immunity to pain.
- Racial trauma and mental illness – Systemic racism significantly contributes to poorer mental and physical health outcomes in racialized communities.
- The role of psychiatry in upholding racial inequities – Psychiatry has historically framed Western culture as superior, marginalizing non-Western understandings of mental health.
- The racialization of psychiatric diagnoses – Black individuals face higher rates of involuntary hospitalization due to systemic biases in healthcare and policing.
- Black Lives Matter and the public health crisis of racism – The social determinants of health, such as employment, housing, and policing, contribute to racial trauma.
- Mental health perceptions and help-seeking in Black communities – Historical, social, and cultural beliefs influence how Black individuals perceive and seek help for mental illness.
- Strategies for decolonizing mental health – Addressing racial trauma requires a multilevel approach, involving systemic reform, cultural shifts, and grassroots advocacy
An Interview with Ingrid R.G. Waldron
1. What drew you to investigating the history of racism in psychiatry?
I first began investigating the history of racism in psychiatry back in 1998 when I was doing my PhD. My PhD thesis focused on Black women’s experiences with mental illness and help-seeking, and as I continued conducting a literature review on that topic I started to encounter articles on the history of racism in psychiatry, which I found to be fascinating and relevant to my doctoral work. I decided to include that information in my new book because it provided a needed historical perspective on the mental health system and the racism that can be imbued within it.
2. How has historic bias in mental healthcare shaped the diagnosis and treatment of Black patients? How does that differ from how white people are treated and diagnosed?
The biases, stigma, prejudice and racism that Black people faced during and since the colonial era, and in particular during the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, has informed how Black patients are perceived, assessed, diagnosed and treated within the mental health system. The diagnoses that are applied to Black people are often aligned with characterizations of Black people as pathological, dangerous, violent.
3. What patterns did you notice in comparing how racism affects Black mental health in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom? What were some similarities and differences of note?
While we are more likely to see instances of direct and overt forms of racism in the U.S. than in Canada and the U.K., I believe experiences of systemic racism are similar in all three countries. The impacts on mental health will also be similar, but since there are less studies on this topic in Canada than in the U.S. and the U.K., it is difficult to say.
4. How has everyday racism and historical oppression contributed to psychological distress in Black communities? How does this manifest? Can you draw a connection from historical oppression to modern psychological distress?
Everyday racism is embedded within all our social structures – from education to the criminal justice system, employment, labour, public infrastructure, and environment. Decisions and policies are developed by policy makers and decision makers within the social structures, and those decisions and policies are often informed by racist ideologies or they exclude the needs of Black and other racialized peoples. I often say that racism gets written into policies in ways that harm racialized people in their everyday lives.
5. What does it mean to decolonize mental health? What steps can professionals, institutions and policymakers take to make mental health care more equitable?
If we understand that the mental health system, just like the education system and other systems, is a colonial institution that centers whiteness and Euro-Western thought in programs, policies and practices, then we can better understand what it means to decolonize mental health. In my book, I offer a multilevel analysis for decolonizing mental health where the needs of Black and other racially diverse communities are more strongly considered in health education, clinical services, clinical programs and policy.
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