Italian fascism's forgotten LGBT victims : asylums and internment, 1922-1943 / Gabriella Romano.

  • Romano, Gabriella, 1960-
Date:
2024
  • Books

About this work

Description

"This book examines the question of the repression of LGBT people through psychiatry during the fascist regime in Italy, a subject that has not been investigated until now. It draws together the substantial archival record of patients, doctors and fascist authorities to reconstruct intricate behind-the-scenes dialogue, and to document one of the ways in which the regime repressed LGBT lives in this period. Italian Fascism's Forgotten LGBT Victims focusses on three different psychiatric hospitals in three parts of the country - Rome, Florence and the small Calabrian town of Girifalco, which had different attitudes and therapeutic approaches. Archive research results are contextualised within the psychiatric theory of the time, highlighting the existing discrepancies between theory and daily routine practice of mental health institutions in Italy during the regime. Using a variety of sources, Gabriella Romano expands current knowledge of the history of Italian psychiatry, and, in doing so, she also touches a number of crucial issues of medical history, history of Fascism and queer history. Most importantly, this original and well-documented study sheds light on the life stories of ordinary LGBT individuals and their families under the fascist regime, a topic that is still mostly unexplored" -- From back cover.

Publication/Creation

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.

Physical description

xiii, 247 pages ; 24 cm

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-242) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- Psychiatric theory -- Psychiatric practice -- The Florence asylum, San Salvi : precarious balance -- The Girifalco asylum : 'A grave for the living'.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    PP.T.34
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781350377080
  • 1350377082