Counter-Colonial Criminology

Looking at how the history of colonialism has shaped the definition of crime and justice systems not only in former colonies but also in colonialist countries, this book argues that criminology in the West was originally tested in the colonies and then brought back to mother countries. In this way, the colonial experience has been instrumental in shaping modern criminology in colonial powers.The book also 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 it also shows that even these critiques do not go far enough as they remain virtually silent on colonial issues. The author, 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 professor of criminology at the University of West Indies. He is the author of Black Women and the Criminal Justice System (Ashgate, 1997), Counter-Colonial Criminology (Pluto, 2003), and editor of Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Migration Research (Ashgate, 2000).