Submissions are sought for a special issue of Punishment & Society, ‘Legacies of Empire’. The special issue will examine the global legacy of empire and colonialism through its effects on the penal regimes and practices of former colonies. Submissions are sought which explore the historical patterns of penal journeys as well as the contemporary legacy   of many of these  phenomena,  including   the   aftermath  of  colonial   policies on Indigenous communities. Contributions are sought from history, sociology, law, and criminology, capturing interdisciplinary work in which the concept of ‘empire’ is broadly conceived, and which contribute to the field of punishment and society (e.g. through literature, theory, empirical material).

For scholars of crime and punishment, greater commitment than ever is necessary to engage with perspectives that critique the times in which we live. The intention of this special issue is to further the democratization of criminological knowledge and to create a space for voices which embrace southern criminological and postcolonial perspectives

Author Information

Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to the guest editors (email below). Submissions are received on a competitive basis and will be reviewed by the guest editors. A selection will be accepted and the full manuscript subject to peer review (deadline for submission of final manuscript TBC with contributors at a later date).

We particularly welcome submissions from scholars based in the Global South. Abstracts should be sent to the guest editors by 15th  August 2020.

For more details/enquiries, please contact the guest editors:

Lizzie Seal (University of Sussex, UK), Bharat Malkani (Cardiff University, UK), Lynsey Black (Maynooth University, Ireland), Florence Seemungal (University of the West Indies Open Campus, Trinidad and Tobago), Roger Ball (University of Sussex, UK)

[email protected] – [email protected] – [email protected] – [email protected] – [email protected]

Following the murder of George Floyd, the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) expresses its solidarity with those who suffer racism and police violence around the world, and particularly with Black individuals and communities who often bear the brunt of such violence. The scholarship of our members and affiliates is fundamentally concerned with justice, inequality, and histories of racism. For these reasons, we recognise the historic and present-day connections between struggles for justice across the globe. 

In line with its mission and its commitment to promote research in all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences within the wider region of eastern Africa, the BIEA is organising a series of webinars on #BlackLivesMatter with a particular focus on racism, police brutality, state violence, memorialisation, and justice in eastern Africa. 

In turn, we invite researchers, activists and practitioners who would like to speak on an online panel or roundtable to contact [email protected] with a suggested topic and title. We welcome papers that provide historical or contemporary accounts of violences suffered, as well as those that offer ideas on how to promote justice and equality. Priority will be given to speakers from the region.