No Bond but the Law

Punishment, Race, and Gender in Jamaican State Formation, 1780–1870

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Caribbean & West Indies, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Penology, Reference & Language, Law, Legal History
Cover of the book No Bond but the Law by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman ISBN: 9780822386148
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: October 29, 2004
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
ISBN: 9780822386148
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: October 29, 2004
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Investigating the cultural, social, and political histories of punishment during ninety years surrounding the 1838 abolition of slavery in Jamaica, Diana Paton challenges standard historiographies of slavery and discipline. The abolition of slavery in Jamaica, as elsewhere, entailed the termination of slaveholders’ legal right to use violence—which they defined as “punishment”—against those they had held as slaves. Paton argues that, while slave emancipation involved major changes in the organization and representation of punishment, there was no straightforward transition from corporal punishment to the prison or from privately inflicted to state-controlled punishment. Contesting the dichotomous understanding of pre-modern and modern modes of power that currently dominates the historiography of punishment, she offers critical readings of influential theories of power and resistance, including those of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Ranajit Guha.

No Bond but the Law reveals the longstanding and intimate relationship between state formation and private punishment. The construction of a dense, state-organized system of prisons began not with emancipation but at the peak of slave-based wealth in Jamaica, in the 1780s. Jamaica provided the paradigmatic case for British observers imagining and evaluating the emancipation process. Paton’s analysis moves between imperial processes on the one hand and Jamaican specificities on the other, within a framework comparing developments regarding punishment in Jamaica with those in the U.S. South and elsewhere. Emphasizing the gendered nature of penal policy and practice throughout the emancipation period, Paton is attentive to the ways in which the actions of ordinary Jamaicans and, in particular, of women prisoners, shaped state decisions.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Investigating the cultural, social, and political histories of punishment during ninety years surrounding the 1838 abolition of slavery in Jamaica, Diana Paton challenges standard historiographies of slavery and discipline. The abolition of slavery in Jamaica, as elsewhere, entailed the termination of slaveholders’ legal right to use violence—which they defined as “punishment”—against those they had held as slaves. Paton argues that, while slave emancipation involved major changes in the organization and representation of punishment, there was no straightforward transition from corporal punishment to the prison or from privately inflicted to state-controlled punishment. Contesting the dichotomous understanding of pre-modern and modern modes of power that currently dominates the historiography of punishment, she offers critical readings of influential theories of power and resistance, including those of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Ranajit Guha.

No Bond but the Law reveals the longstanding and intimate relationship between state formation and private punishment. The construction of a dense, state-organized system of prisons began not with emancipation but at the peak of slave-based wealth in Jamaica, in the 1780s. Jamaica provided the paradigmatic case for British observers imagining and evaluating the emancipation process. Paton’s analysis moves between imperial processes on the one hand and Jamaican specificities on the other, within a framework comparing developments regarding punishment in Jamaica with those in the U.S. South and elsewhere. Emphasizing the gendered nature of penal policy and practice throughout the emancipation period, Paton is attentive to the ways in which the actions of ordinary Jamaicans and, in particular, of women prisoners, shaped state decisions.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Itineraries in Conflict by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Specters of the Atlantic by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Semiotics of Peasants in Transition by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Tourists of History by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Crafting Gender by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Hawaiian Blood by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book The Extractive Zone by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Callaloo Nation by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book A Primer for Teaching Environmental History by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Global Icons by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Terry Sanford by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Porn Archives by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book A Primer for Teaching Women, Gender, and Sexuality in World History by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
Cover of the book Cultural Institutions of the Novel by Diana Paton, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Robyn Wiegman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy