'That awful place was home': reflections on the contested meanings of Craig Dunain Asylum

Burns, Nicola and Parr, Hester and Philo, Chris (2003) 'That awful place was home': reflections on the contested meanings of Craig Dunain Asylum. Scottish Geographical Magazine, 119 (4). pp. 341-360. ISSN 0036-9225

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Abstract

The paper explores a particular Scottish asylum geography (Craig Dunain Hospital near Inverness) as a meaningful social space. Drawing on archival evidence and combined with contemporary patient and staff voices, the contested meanings of this institution are discussed. In particular, patient narratives reveal both positive and negative assessments of internal and external asylum spaces. Changing feelings about the asylum are argued to be related to matters of geography, and are conceived in terms of distance from and proximity to the institution.