Counter-Colonial Criminology A Critique of Imperialist Reason

by Agozino, Biko; Pfohl, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780745318851
• ISBN10: 0745318851
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

This book will revolutionize the study of criminology throughout the world and promote the discipline especially in the Third World. ... A groundbreaking book ... [offering ] dazzling brilliance in the development of criminological theory. Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe, Associate Professor, Dept. of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore"It adopts an insightful theoretical approach to the study of criminology. I find the interdisciplinary approach appealing". Jerry Dibua, Morgan State UniversityThis book is about how the history of colonialism has shaped the definition of crime and justice systems not only in former colonies but also in colonialist countries. Biko Agozino argues that criminology in the West was originally tested in the colonies and then brought back to mother countries -- in this way, he claims, the colonial experience has been instrumental in shaping modern criminology in colonial powers. He looks at how radical critiques of mainstream criminology by critical feminist and postmodernist thinkers contribute to an understanding of the relationship between colonial experience and criminology. But he also shows that even critical feminist and postmodernist assessments of conventional criminology do not go far enough as they remain virtually silent on colonial issues. Biko Agozino considers African and other postcolonial literature and contributions to counter colonial criminology, their originality, relevance and limitations. Finally he advocates a "committed objectivity" approach to race-class-gender criminology investigations in order to come to terms with imperialistic and neo-colonialist criminology.

Author Biography

Biko Agozino is associate professor of criminology at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Black Women and the Criminal Justice System published by Ashgate, 1997, and editor of Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Migration Research, Ashgate 2000.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Foreword	xi
Introduction	1	(12)
1. The Enlightenment and Euro-American Theories of the Judicial Process	13	(27)
Enlightened Retribution and Utilitarianism	16	(6)
The Rational Ideal Type and Orientalism	22	(4)
Whose Conscience is the Collective Conscience under Colonialism?	26	(9)
From the Micro-Physics of Power to the Bifurcation Thesis	35	(5)
2. From Determinism to Meaning: The Emergence of the Labelling Perspective	40	(10)
Theoretical and Historical Background	42	(2)
Symbolic Interactionism	44	(1)
Phenomenology and Labelling	45	(1)
The Power to Name as a Focus	46	(1)
An Assessment of the Labelling Perspective	47	(3)
3. From Societal Reaction to Questions of Power: From Labelling to Radical Criminology	50	(13)
From the Symbolic to the Structural	50	(1)
Back to Classical Marxism	51	(3)
Practical Implications	54	(2)
A Critique of Critical Criminology	56	(1)
What is New about New Realism?	57	(1)
Realism, Neoclassicism and Sociological Determinism	58	(2)
The Examples of Counter-Colonial Criminology	60	(3)
4. Feminist Perspectives and Critical Criminology	63	(12)
Feminist Empiricism	64	(2)
Standpoint Feminism	66	(6)
Postmodern Feminism	72	(3)
5. Lesbian Rape: Maternal Metaphors for the Patriarchal State and International Conflict Resolution	75	(17)
The Literature of Rape	78	(4)
The Sisters Do It for Themselves	82	(10)
6. Poststructuralism and Positivism in Criminological Theory	92	(11)
7. Social Fiction Sui Generis: The Fairy Tale Structure of Criminological Theory	103	(10)
Tensions between Facticity and Validity	103	(5)
The Murder of Reality	108	(2)
The Fictional Character of Criminological Theory	110	(3)
8. Executive Lawlessness and the Struggle for Democracy in Africa	113	(27)
What is Crime and What is Punishment?	114	(7)
Democracy, Law and Order as Organised Violence	121	(9)
Realism, Authoritarianism and Decolonisation	130	(4)
Democracy as Redress for Victimised Society	134	(6)
9. Radical Criminology in African Literature	140	(17)
The Problem of Crime	141	(4)
What is Crime and What Causes Crime?	145	(5)
How is Law Related to Society?	150	(3)
How Should Society Respond to Offending Behaviour?	153	(2)
Discussion and Conclusion	155	(2)
10. Committed Objectivity in Race-Class-Gender Research	157	(16)
Race-Class-Gender Identity in Research	161	(2)
Objectivity is not Positionlessness	163	(6)
The Example of the Institute of Race Relations	169	(2)
What is Committed Objectivity?	171	(2)
11. How Scientific is Criminal Justice? A Methodological Critique of Research on McCleskey v. Kemp and Other Capital Cases	173	(21)
The Case of McCleskey	174	(2)
Investigation and Adjudication as Research	176	(2)
Science has No Room for Finality	178	(2)
A Scientific Argument Against the Death Penalty	180	(2)
A Critique of Criminological Research on the Death Penalty	182	(5)
Mumia Abu Jamal: Another Ken Saro-Wiwa?	187	(3)
Conclusion: How Scientific are Criminal Justice Sciences?	190	(4)
12. What is Institutionalised? The Race-Class-Gender Articulation of Stephen Lawrence	194	(20)
The Sociology of Institutionalisation	197	(5)
Institutionalised Racism-Sexism-Classism	202	(2)
A Letter from Harlem	204	(3)
Windrush: A Law and Social Justice Workshop	207	(4)
Conclusion	211	(3)
13. Criminal Records: The Toughest, the Police and the Thieves: The Policing of Peter Tosh and Popular Culture	214	(14)
'Everyone is talking about crime, crime, tell me who are the criminals' - Tosh	215	(2)
'I am wanted dred and alive, no place to hide' - Tosh	217	(3)
'Get up stand up, stand up for your rights' - Tosh and Marley	220	(3)
Conclusion: Groundings	223	(5)
Conclusion: Beyond Criminological Orientalism	228	(19)
Bibliography	247	(19)
Index	266