Imperial Genealogies of Crime - linkages, legacies, lifestories
17—18 May & 24—25 May, 2022 (Online)
This online conference series will explore entangled histories of crime and imperialism through the lens of genealogy. Genealogy traces lines of descent and evolution over time. At a moment of global awakening to racial injustice after the death of George Floyd, we contend that tackling ongoing crises in racist policing and mass-imprisonment requires sustained, critical engagement with the legacies of imperialism and criminalisation.
The convenors are particularly interested in understanding global registers of crime – how was crime conceptualised, legislated and represented in varied social, economic, political, and geographical contexts? How have race, gender, class and colonialism affected understandings of crime? How do these ideas about criminality shape our state institutions today? This international conference series will contribute to emerging interdisciplinary scholarship by inviting papers that explore legacy, inheritance, connectivity and rupture in crime across empire.