Imperial Genealogies of Crime
linkages, legacies, lifestories
A. C. Jackson, The Hunt for the Governor Gang, 1900. State Library of New South Wales, Graphic Materials, BCP 03906
The Series // 2022
This online conference and workshop series was held in May 2022, and explored 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, the convenors contended that tackling ongoing crises in racist policing and mass-imprisonment required sustained, critical engagement with the legacies of imperialism and criminalisation.
The series was particularly concerned with 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 series contributed to emerging interdisciplinary scholarship by featuring papers that explored legacy, inheritance, connectivity and rupture in crime across empire.
The Archive // Ongoing
Given that crime is a construct that is woven into the fabric of society, this series was designed to be as global and inclusive as possible. The online format allowed for a wide level of global participation, and specific sessions were scheduled to accommodate time-differences.
We are thrilled that over 3000 people have engaged with the Imperial Genealogies of Crime website to date, and that we have had website visitors from every continent in the world (except Antarctica).
To further our commitment to accessibility, this website now contains conference and workshop recordings as well as online resources. These are included to assist with teaching and researching imperial crime, and in the hope of encouraging conversation about imperial genealogies of crime into the future.
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Conference Resources
Workshop Resources
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Imperial Genealogies of Crime was convened by Dr Meg Foster, Newnham College, University of Cambridge and co-convened by Dr Katy Roscoe, International Criminological Research Unit, University of Liverpool and was generously hosted by their institutions.
Sponsored by
