Colonial carcerality : a spatial history of the British colonial prison in India / Mira Rai Waits.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waits, Mira Rai, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prisons--India--Design and construction--History.

Prisons.

Punishment--India--History.

Punishment.

Prisons--Design and construction--History.

Punishment--History.

India.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

'Colonial Carcerality' examines the vast archive of material related to the space and spatial experience of prisons produced during British colonial rule in India. Bringing official government records of architectural plans, drawings, and photographs of prison buildings, in conversation with popular representations that engage prison space such as paintings, prints, and literature, Waits demonstrates that the colonial Indian prison was not simply a fixed architectural arena where events unfolded; rather, prison space was contingent upon and held together by shifting narratives and a multitude of actors, including the prisoners themselves. The book offers a means to destabilize the colonial prison as a static historical space by acknowledging these actors involved in prison production.

Contents:

Cover

Colonial Carcerality A Spatial History of the British Colonial Prison in India

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Contents

List of Illustrations

"One Vast Prison House"

Carcerality

Spatial History

Colonial Carcerality

Conclusion

1: Carceral Architecture

A Typology of Early Colonial Jails

Architectural Remedy

Standardizing Prisons

2: Carceral Capital

Colonial Capitalism and Prison Space

The Prison Factory

Carcerality on Display

3: Carceral Resistance

Violence and the Production of Space.

Troubling Bodies

Community and Resistance

4: Carceral Narration

Prison Writing and Space-Making

"Thoughts and Emotions"

Gandhi and the Yerawada Central Jail

5: Carceral Representation

Martyrdom in Prison

Critiquing the Prison

Representing Law-Preserving Violence

The Making of Anti-Colonial Martyrs

Witnessing the Infrastructure of Colonial Violence

Carceral Pluralities

Notes

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Bibliography

Archival Records.

Government and Other Contemporary Publications

Prison Writings

Secondary Sources

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (Oxford Academic, viewed on July 2, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version : Waits, Mira Rai, Colonial carcerality.

ISBN:

9780198995685

0198995687

OCLC:

1579622613

Publisher Number:

CIPO000365468

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.