Cultures of Confinement : A History of the Prison in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Prisons are on the increase from the United States to China, as ever-larger proportions of humanity find themselves behind bars. While prisons now span the world, we know little about their history in global perspective. Rather than interpreting the prison's proliferation as the predictable result of globalization, Cultures of Confinement underlines the fact that the prison was never simply imposed by colonial powers or copied by elites eager to emulate the West, but was reinvented and transformed by a host of local factors, its success being dependent on its very flexibility. Complex cultural negotiations took place in encounters between different parts of the world, and rather than assigning a passive role to Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the authors of this book point out the acts of resistance or appropriation that altered the social practices associated with confinement. The prison, in short, was understood in culturally specific ways and reinvented in a variety of local contexts examined here for the first time in global perspective.-- Provided by Publisher Rather than interpreting the prison everywhere as the predictable result of 'globalisation', this book underlines that it was never simply 'imposed' by colonial powers or 'copied' by elites eager to emulate the West, but was reinvented and transformed by a host of local factors, its success being dependent on its very flexibility. Complex cultural negotiations took place in encounters between different parts of the world, and rather than assigning a passive role to Latin America, Asia and Africa, the authors of this book point out the acts of resistance or appropriation which altered the social practices associated with confinement Prisons and prisoners in modernising Latin America (1800-1940) / Carlos Aguirre The shadow of rule : colonial power and modern punishment in Africa / Florence Bernault Regulation, reform and resistance in the Middle Eastern prison / Anthony Gorman India : the contested prison / David Arnold Sepoys, servants and settlers : convict transportation in the Indian Ocean, 1787-1945 / Clare Anderson South East Asia : reform and the colonial prison / Ian Brown The promise of repentance : the prison in modern China / Frank Dikötter Envisioning the colonial prison / Clare Anderson and David Arnold. Cover CULTURES OF CONFINEMENT Title Copyright CONTENTS Illustrations Acknowledgements Contributors 1. Introduction 2. Prisons and Prisoners in Modernising Latin America (1800-1940) 3. The Shadow of Rule: Colonial Power and Modern Punishment in Africa 4. Regulation, Reform and Resistance in the Middle Eastern Prison 5. India: The Contested Prison 6. Sepoys, Servants and Settlers: Convict Transportation in the Indian Ocean, 1787-1945 7. South East Asia: Reform and the Colonial Prison 8. The Promise of Repentance: The Prison in Modern China 9. Envisioning the Colonial Prison Index