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Institutional Racism in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology pp 111–134Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Struggle Against Racism in the UK

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Part of the book series: Contemporary Black History ((CBH))

Abstract

The chapter begins by discussing an official report that highlighted institutional racism in London’s Metropolitan Police and stimulated many organisations to examine their own processes. It describes the evolving literature in the 1980s, which was critical of psychiatry and mental health practice and which was often grouped under the umbrella of ‘transcultural psychiatry’, advocating anti-racist strategies and cultural-sensitivity training for staff. The chapter discusses the contribution of the black voluntary sector to supporting black people; work that led to a strategy intended to deal with racial inequalities in the mental health system, but which eventually failed; and events and happenings, some involving the author personally, that illustrate the extent to which institutional racism is embedded in the mental health system and in government departments. A theme that runs through the chapter is the struggle against racism in mental health services on the part of UK’s black and ethnic minority communities, and it ends by considering race matters in professional bodies involved in psychology and psychiatry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. London Metropolitan University, London, UK

    Suman Fernando

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  1. Suman Fernando
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Correspondence to Suman Fernando .

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Fernando, S. (2017). Struggle Against Racism in the UK. In: Institutional Racism in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology. Contemporary Black History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62728-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62728-1_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62727-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62728-1

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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