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Imperial Gallows: Murder, Violence and the Death Penalty in British Colonial Africa, c.1915-60

Imperial Gallows: Murder, Violence and the Death Penalty in British Colonial Africa, c.1915-60

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  • More about Imperial Gallows: Murder, Violence and the Death Penalty in British Colonial Africa, c.1915-60

The book explores how colonial legal cultures and landscapes of political authority shaped sentencing and mercy in British Africa,showing how ideas of race, ethnicity, gender, and 'civilization' could both spare and condemn Africans convicted of murder. It also highlights the scandals that erupted over the death penalty, such as botched executions and moral panics over ritual murder, and the hanging of anti-colonial rebels for 'terrorist and emergency offences'.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC


Imperial Gallows: Exploring Social Tensions and Colonial Legal Cultures in the Death Penalty in British Africa

The death penalty in British Africa was not just a method of crime control or individual punishment, but rather an integral aspect of colonial networks of power and violence. This book, Imperial Gallows, delves into capital trials from Kenya, Nyasaland, and the Gold Coast to explore the social tensions that fueled murder among colonized populations and how colonial legal cultures and landscapes of political authority shaped sentencing and mercy.

The author, Stacey Hynd, follows the entire process of capital punishment, from the identification of a murder victim to trial and conviction, through the process of mercy and sentencing onto death row and execution. The scandals that erupted over the death penalty, ranging from botched executions and moral panics over ritual murder to the hanging of anti-colonial rebels for 'terrorist and emergency offenses, provide significant insights into the shifting moral and political economies of colonial violence.

Imperial Gallows contextualizes the death penalty within the wider penal systems and coercive networks of British colonial Africa to highlight the shifting targets of the imperial gallows against rebels, robbers, or domestic murderers. The book demonstrates that while hangings were key elements of colonial iconography in British Africa, symbolically loaded events that demonstrated imperial power and authority, they also reveal the limits of that power.

Through a comprehensive analysis of capital trials, Imperial Gallows sheds light on the complex interplay of social, cultural, and legal factors that shaped the administration of the death penalty in British Africa. It highlights the ways in which colonial legal cultures and landscapes of political authority influenced the decisions of judges, jurors, and colonial officials, as well as the experiences of those who were subjected to capital punishment.

The book also explores the ways in which Africans convicted of murder in colonial courts could either appropriate or resist such colonial legal discourses in their trials and petitions. It demonstrates how ideas of race, ethnicity, gender, and 'civilization' could both spare and condemn Africans, and how Africans could use legal strategies to challenge the authority of colonial courts and seek justice.

Imperial Gallows is a valuable contribution to the study of colonialism, law, and justice in British Africa. It provides a nuanced understanding of the social and political dynamics that shaped the death penalty in this region and sheds light on the complex ways in which colonial power and authority were exercised. The book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and students of history, law, and colonialism.


Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350302648

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