INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP: 'History of Prison Reform in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts: Hope and Disappointment' - Sapir Academic College, 17-19 June 2024

 

International Workshop

History of Prison Reform in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts: Hope and Disappointment

17-19 June 2024, Sapir Academic College, Israel

This workshop will explore the history of prison reform in the colonial context, its hopes and failures. It seeks to broaden our understanding of the distinctiveness of penal reform in colonial and postcolonial territories, and to clarify how it differs from its implementation in other, non-colonial settings. The claim of promoting penal reform was often an explicit part of the colonial ‘civilizing mission’ and its application an indicator of progress. Proclaimed reformist intentions, however, were often not fulfilled in practice. Historians have examined the violent and oppressive practices of colonial penal regimes. A considerable part of this scholarship criticizes the Eurocentricity of the progressive reformist narratives, often underpinned by the Foucauldian argument about a shift from corporal punishment to imprisonment, and laced with disciplinary and surveillance knowledge-power technologies. These studies reveal that within the colonial context, the European penal model underwent transformations, both deliberate and unintended ones. Postcolonial accounts of penal regimes critically analyze the implementation of reformist, humanitarian institutions and ideas. While reformist ideology explicitly advocates for humanistic values, in practice it can nonetheless support imperial projects of control over foreign bodies. The proposed workshop will explore the implementation, rejection and manipulation of reform mechanisms of the penal system in colonial settings by the various social players that were involved in these practices. Who were the players advocating for reform and what was their agenda? When reformist practices and institutions were transplanted to colonial settings, how did they change? In what ways were the subalterns able to influence the meaning of these practices? What impact did the broader political, administrative and societal context have on these practices? In what ways are the achievements and failures of reform different in a colonial and non-colonial context? The participants in the proposed international workshop will work together towards providing answers to these fundamental questions that stand at the heart of current debates on colonial punishment and the shortcomings of penal reforms.

Submission Guidelines:

The workshop will be held at Sapir Academic College, Israel on 17-19 June 2024. All participants will be expected to submit a working paper by 10 May 2024, to be distributed to the other participants. Those interested in participating in the workshop are welcome to send a one-page proposal in English, along with a short C.V., by 18 October 2022. The proposal should briefly state the topic and outline how the paper contributes to the aims of the workshop. We hope to publish selected papers from the workshop as a book or a special journal issue. 

Please send the above and refer any questions to Orna Alyagon Darr (oad@mail.sapir.ac.il). Financial assistance for airfare and accommodation will be offered depending on funding.