Dr Chris Sandal-Wilson
Co-Director, CIGH, University of Exeter

Hello, I’m Dr Chris Sandal-Wilson, Co-Director of the Centre for Imperial and Global History alongside Dr Rebecca Williams. I’m a historian of medicine and particularly psychiatry, though I also teach and research the histories of British colonialism, the modern Middle East, and sexuality – and welcome opportunities to connect with students and scholars across these fields.

These interests were brought together in my first book, Mandatory Madness: Colonial Psychiatry and Mental Illness in British Mandate Palestine, which was published at the end of 2023 by Cambridge University Press. In the book, I was able to bring to light a rich but overlooked seam of archival material and sources in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, and provide a new perspective on how questions around mental illness mattered not simply in clinical spaces but in the courtroom, the prison, the census, and ultimately in the context of crisis and collapse, too. And I was honoured that my book was shortlisted and awarded an Honourable Mention for the biennial British Society for the History of Science 2024 Pickstone Prize, recognising outstanding books on the history of science, technology, and medicine.

I’m currently developing new projects on the history of international humanitarian psychiatry and the politics of psychiatry in times of catastrophe. Alongside my research into the history of psychiatry, I co-lead the National Lottery Heritage Funded project Section 28 and its afterlives in the South West. Through oral histories, creative workshops, public talks, and exhibitions, our project has engaged hundreds of people in the region, recovering and recording the experiences of those directly affected by the legislation – and raising awareness of the legacies that exist to this day.

Alongside my undergraduate teaching, I’m also the Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes in History, which means I have the privilege of supporting our amazing MA History students here at Exeter. We offer a pathway focussed on Imperial and Global History, which will allow you to get to grips with the latest developments in the historiography, undertake original historical research in an area of your choice, and immerse yourself in the vibrant research culture – not least the seminars, roundtables, conferences, and other events put on by the Centre for Imperial and Global History and its members. If you have any questions about postgraduate study in History here at Exeter, I’d be delighted to hear from you.