CITY Research Seminar - Psychiatric Epidemiology and Urban Sociology in 20th-Century Canada: Another History of Knowledge in the field of Mental Health
Psychiatric Epidemiology and Urban Sociology in 20th-Century Canada: Another History of Knowledge in the field of Mental Health
Emmanuel Delille, Associate Researcher, Centre Marc Bloch (Humboldt University, Berlin) and Associate Professor, Nagoya University
4 February 2026, 2:00 - 3:30 pm | Room 626, Kaneff Tower
This presentation analyzes the emergence of psychiatric epidemiology in the post-1945 period through a case study of the Stirling County 快播视频 in Canada. The conceptual framework and methodology of this community-based research draw extensively on urban sociology and anthropology associated with the Chicago School, particularly studies of small communities. After situating the study within its historical context, the presentation interrogates key features of the study framework from the perspective of the history of the social sciences.
Speaker Biography
Emmanuel Delille is a historian of science and medicine. He is currently an Associate Researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch (CMB, Humboldt University, Berlin) and Associate Professor at Nagoya University. He earned a doctorate in History at the 脡cole des Hautes 脡tudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris) in 2008. One of his major interests is the history of psychiatry: the intellectual networks and comparative history between France, Germany, Japan, and North America. Other research projects after his PhD include the history of transcultural psychiatry in Canada, and the history of concentration camps in Germany (1933-45).
A large number of his publications include reflections on the critical use of archival material, especially medical records of hospitals, epistolary material, and journals of patient associations in a psychiatric context. Within the field of the history of mental health, Emmanuel is currently researching the history of epidemiology and urban studies in Canada, in particular, the connections with Chicago School urban sociology in the twentieth century. In these different comparative perspectives, his main inquiry remains the shaping of the dynamic of the circulation of knowledge.
