Erika Dyck and Alex Deighton win the Prairies Clio Prize from the Canadian Historical Association

The annual Clio prize in Priaries history is awarded for meritorious publications or for exceptional contributions to Prairie history in Canada.

This year, the committee awarded the 2018 Prairies Clio Prize to Department of History Professor Erika Dyck and History Department alumni Alex Deighton (MA, 2016) for their book, Managing Madness: Weyburn Mental Hospital and the Transformation of Psychiatric Care in Canada. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2017.

Below are the comments from the awards committee:

In this innovative history of psychiatric care, Erika Dyck and Alex Deighton trace the story of the Weyburn Mental Hospital, from its genesis as a showcase ‘total institution’ through to its decline and closure as treatment of the mentally ill shifted to community-based care. Their study provides a rich and nuanced analysis of the Saskatchewan context, while also connecting the province to broader national and international developments in psychiatric care. The authors demonstrate the influence of the hospital’s leaders well beyond the province’s borders in mental health research and in shaping government policy, while always paying close attention to the voices of the patients themselves. Documenting Saskatchewan’s early commitment to deinstitutionalization, Dyck and Deighton also document a legacy of struggle and unrealized promise in mental health reform. Deftly integrating a range of methods, sources and collaborative scholarship, Dyck and Deighton write with passion, commitment, and respect for people whose lives have been affected by mental illness.

Congratulations Erika and Alex!

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