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Cited by 2Disability Rights and RepresentationHistorical Psychiatry and Medical PracticesFoucault, Power, and Ethics

Huronia's Double Bind: How Institutionalisation Bears Out on the Body

Rinaldi, Jen, Rossiter, Kate·2021·Somatechnics
DOI 10.3366/soma.2021.0341
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Abstract

Frequently missing from histories of forced institutionalisation are close readings of the enduring impact on survivors' corporeality. In this article the authors analyse interview data featuring people who survived the Huronia Regional Centre: a total institution designed to warehouse people with intellectual disabilities that operated in Canada from 1876 to 2009. These interviews reveal the impact of institutional technologies on the bodies of the institutionalised, and how institutional survivors resisted those technologies. Institutional rituals meant to organise and cleanse residents, resulted in the reification of institutional subjects as inescapably contaminated. Drawing from Mary Douglas's theory of dirt and Julia Kristeva's interpretation of dirt as abjection, the authors engage with interview data on daily institutional care routines, particularly dressing, eating, showering, and the administration of medication, to show how these rituals produced for the institutionalised subject meanings around gender and disability as markers of defilement. The authors argue that the kinds of deeply oppressive and often violent rituals central to lived experiences of institutionalisation are grounded in the assumption that disabled gendered bodies are already-abject, hence the institutional demand for the institutionalised to be brought under control.

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Crossref · 10.3366/soma.2021.0341

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  • Survivors have reported since leaving Huronia that they experienced violence at the hands of staff.

    “But as survivors have reported since leaving Huronia, they definitely experienced violence at the hands of staff.”

    From Huronia’s lessons: how ableist violence determines health (2025) · cites this paper as Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021

  • At Huronia, residents bathed together in communal showers, used common public sinks, and had access to public toilets, some of which had the stall doors removed.

    “They bathed altogether in communal showers; used common public sinks to wash up, shave, and brush teeth; and had access to public toilets, some of which had the stall doors removed.”

    From Huronia’s lessons: how ableist violence determines health (2025) · cites this paper as Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021

  • The work of disciplining residents at Huronia spilled over into acts of physical and sexual cruelty.

    “The work of disciplining residents spilled over into acts of physical and sexual cruelty (Jackson & Rinaldi, 2019a, 2019b; Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021; Rossiter & Rinaldi, 2019).”

    From Huronia’s lessons: how ableist violence determines health (2025) · cites this paper as Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021

  • At Huronia, food was consumed altogether at scheduled mealtimes, with residents lining up for portions and eating at long cafeteria-style tables.

    “Food was consumed altogether at scheduled mealtimes through the day, requiring that residents line up to receive their portions and that they eat at long, cafeteria-style tables (Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021; Rossiter & Rinaldi, 2019).”

    From Huronia’s lessons: how ableist violence determines health (2025) · cites this paper as Rinaldi & Rossiter, 2021

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Authors
Rinaldi, J., & Rossiter, K.
ORCID
Venue
Somatechnics
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Published
2021-04
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
92-111
ISSN
  • 2044-0138 (ISSN-L)
  • 2044-0146
DOI
10.3366/soma.2021.0341
OpenAlex
W3157856898
Cited by
1
References
29
Citations by year
2021: 1
FWCI
0.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm (tdm)
Locations
Somatechnics (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Foucault, Power, and Ethics
Keywords
institutionalization, intellectual disability, embodiment, abjection, gender and disability, Mary Douglas, Julia Kristeva, disabled bodies

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