Marie-Claude Thifault

Biography

Marie-Claude Thifault is a professional historian whose primary research focus is the history of late-nineteenth and twentieth century asylum life in Quebec and Canada. Until recently, the women incarcerated for madness have been at the centre of her work, but the experiences of the nuns who worked in the asylum now form the core of her research.

Dr Thifault is an associate professor at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa. Professor Thifault has published articles about the institutionalization of the insane in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century and she is also the co-author of the book Une toupie sur la tête. Visages de la folie à Saint-Jean-de-Dieu (Boréal 2007). This book, which was short-listed in the category of French non-fiction for the 2007 Governor General Awards, is a contribution to the history of cultural sensibilities in general, and specifically, to the history of privacy and intimacy in asylum life. Dr Thifault is a member of the AMS Nursing History Research Unit at the University of Ottawa, the Centre d’histoire des régulations sociales (CHRS) at UQAM, and the pan-canadian group Open Door.

Research Interests

• Women’s Studies
• Women, mental illness, institutionalization in asylum
• Women’s religious communities
• Social and cultural history: Quebec, Canada
• History of cultural sensibilities
• Nursing history in Canada