Understanding Violence and Incarceration in Africa: Evidence from British Colonies and Postcolonial StatesKatherine Bruce-Lockhart, University of WaterlooDavid M. Anderson, University of WarwickResearch Grant, 2020 This project provided the first systematic comparative study of incarceration in former British African colonies. Our aims were to assess and analyze the factors determining the level and nature of violence in colonial prisons, to examine and explain the similarities and differences between the penal systems of British African colonies, and to trace the long-term legacies of these violent systems in postcolonial states. Despite extensive scholarly work on the history of the prison in Africa, empirical evidence on incarceration has been largely ignored, with scholarship instead relying on Eurocentric theories. This lack of engagement with empirical data has made it difficult for scholars in African Studies to situate their work in broader continental contexts and has also created barriers to engagement with research on Africa for scholars working in other regions. Our team, which included current and former master’s and doctoral students at the University of Waterloo, investigated the use of incarceration as a tool of colonial governance, the use of violent punishment within prisons, and the continuities of these practices in postcolonial states. We conducted archival research in the United Kingdom, Canada, and through online databases, as well as drawing on materials that we had previously collected through research in African and European archives. Ultimately, the colonial legacies of authoritarianism, impunity, and violent punishment continue to have significant effects on penal systems in postcolonial African states. There are two key findings from our research. The first is that violence was afoundational and fundamental aspect of colonial African penal systems. While many scholars have made this argument, our work drew on quantitative data to substantiate this point. For example, we traced the high rate of punishments within prisons (including corporal punishments), which regularly exceeded 50 percent (meaning that there were more than fifty punishments per one hundred prisoners). Since these rates only reflect what authorities officially reported, the frequency of punishments would have been even higher. Second, our work demonstrates the significant continuities between colonial and postcolonial penal systems. Colonial officials relied heavily on incarceration, detention without trial, executions, deportations, military punishments, and other modes of violent punishment, and postcolonial leaders have drawn extensively on colonial penal legislation and punitive practices. Ultimately, the colonial legacies of authoritarianism, impunity, and violent punishment continue to have significant effects on penal systems in postcolonial African states. Addressing such legacies requires robust systemic changes, including moving away from colonial carceral systems and turning to restorative and transformative justice frameworks.
