Colonial Carcerality

Abstract Colonial Carcerality: A Spatial History of the British Colonial Prison in India examines the vast archive of spatial material related to prisons produced during British colonial rule in India. Bringing official government records of architectural plans, drawings, and photographs of prison buildings, in conversation with popular representations that engage prison space such as paintings, prints, and literature, Colonial Carcerality demonstrates that the colonial Indian prison was not simply a fixed architectural arena where events unfolded; rather, prison space was contingent upon and held together by shifting narratives and a multitude of actors, including the prisoners themselves. The book offers a means to destabilize the colonial prison as a static historical space by acknowledging these actors involved in prison production. In tackling this spatial history, Colonial Carcerality makes a larger case for the crucial role that prisons as spatial forms played in constituting the colonial project, and the necessity of writing histories that recognize historical space as an unfinished cultural object.