ABSTRACT

The article analyses, through the use of primary sources, the relationship between emigration and madness during the Italian transatlantic migration at the beginning of the twentieth century. During that years, mental illness started to spread among returning emigrants, while the countries of destination showed their disfavour towards new emigration, especially the one coming from the South of Italy. At that time, most of the Italian psychiatric community was influenced by the positivist and Lombrosian approach which considered mental alienation as an organic disease widespread among southern populations. The southern emigrant has been transformed into a person subjected to madness and the act of emigrating has been conceived as a symptom instead of a necessity. Lastly, the research focuses on ‘abandonment issues’ suffered by emigrants’ wives. These psychic pathologies, neglected by the psychiatry at that time, would have represented an opportunity for a better understanding of the migration trauma.

摘要

这篇文章通过使用原始资料分析了20世纪初意大利跨大西洋移民期间移民与疯狂之间的关系。在那几年中，精神疾病开始在回返移民中蔓延，而目的地国对新移民特别是来自意大利南部的移民表示不满。当时，大多数意大利精神病学界都受到实证主义者和朗布罗斯主义方法的影响，他们认为精神疏远是南部人群中普遍存在的一种器质性疾病。南部的移民已经变成了一个遭受疯狂的人，移民的行为被认为是一种症状，而不是一种必然。最后，研究集中在移民妻子遭受的“遗弃问题”上。