Brown, M.M. orcid.org/0000-0003-4098-2929 (2018) Colonial states, colonial rule, colonial governmentalities: Implications for the study of historical state crime. State Crime Journal, 7 (2). pp. 173-198. ISSN 2046-6056
Abstract
The colonial state has been an object of intense study and debate among historians and postcolonial scholars. In this special issue, devoted to questions of colonial state crime, I consider the utility of the colonial state as a conceptual and analytic category for state crime scholars. Focusing upon European colonialism in South Asia, the article first examines definitional problems: within what normative parameters might colonial state behaviour be understood and, thus, its transgressions and crimes registered? I then move to consider two contrasting schools of historiography and their difficulties in settling upon some agreed view of how colonizing foreigners connected with indigenous elites and masses to develop and implement strategies of rule. I suggest that the concept of a colonial state, to which culpability for state crimes may be ascribed, is a chimera and of limited use today. Instead, I describe a model of colonial governmentality and, through a case study of mass famine death, illustrate both its strengths and weaknesses for making sense of how such tragedies occurred and thus how insights from the historical field might improve our understanding of modern and postcolonial states today.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 International State Crime Initiative |
Keywords: | colonial India; colonial state crime; colonial governmentality; famine |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Law (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2018 12:21 |
Last Modified: | 13 Mar 2019 16:42 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Pluto Journals |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.13169/statecrime.7.2.0173 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:128195 |