Framing the Penal Colony: Representing, Interpreting and Imagining Convict Transportation

Description

This book examines the representation of penal colonies both historically and in contemporary culture, across an array of media. Exploring a range of geographies and historical instances of the penal colony, it seeks to identify how the ‘penal colony’ as a widespread phenomenon is as much ‘imagined’ and creatively instrumentalized as it pertains to real sites and populations. It concentrates on the range of ‘media’ produced in and around penal colonies both during their operation and following their closures. This approach emphasizes the role of cross-disciplinary methods and approaches to examining the history and legacy of convict transportation, prison islands and other sites of exile. It develops a range of methodological tools for engaging with cultures and representations of incarceration, detention and transportation. The chapters draw on media discourse analysis, critical cartography, museum and heritage studies, ethnography, architectural history, visual culture including film and comics studies and gaming studies. It aims to disrupt the idea of adopting linear histories or isolated geographies in order to understand the impact and legacy of penal colonies. The overall claim made by the collection is that understanding the cultural production associated with this global phenomenon is a necessary part of a wider examination of carceral imaginaries or ‘penal spectatorship’ (Brown, 2009) past, present and future. It brings together historiography, criminology, media and cultural studies.         Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures 1 Introduction What is a Penal Colony? Carceral Geographies Empire and Capital Outline of Chapters The Persistence of the Prison Island Notes References Part I Reporting the Penal Colony 2 Framing New Caledonia: Policing Escapees from the Bagne in Colonial Australia Introduction Convict Escapes Permanent Isolation: The Impossible Logic of Penal Colonialism Reorienting the Governing Gaze in Australia: From Escape to Invasion Policing the Bagne in the Australian Colonies Conclusion References 3 “Dancing and Discipline, Frolics and Felonies, Punch and Punishment, Rum and Reform”: Queen Victoria’s Birthday Party, Norfolk Island Penal Station, 25 May 1840 Notes References 4 Re-framing Albert Londres’ ‘Reportages’ as Graphic Novel: From Adventure Narrative to Prison Comics Introduction: A Story of Many Men Albert Londres’ Reportages French Guiana’s Carceral Geographies Repressive Apparatus Dry Guillotine From Adventure Narratives to Prison Comics Conclusion Notes References Part II Exploring the Penal Colony 5 Strange Reflections on the Abashiri River: Between the Prison and the Museum Introduction Context Theory and Method Beholding Abashiri Photographing Abashiri Owning Abashiri Conclusion Notes Works Cited 6 Seeing the Penal Colony Through Heritage Trail Maps: Global Connections and Local Views of the bagne in French Guiana and New Caledonia Introduction Mapping Narratives Seeing the Penal Colony in a (Somewhat) Global Context: Reading the Signs on the sentier du bagne des Annamites Viewing Ambiguously on the itinéraire du bagne in New Caledonia Notes Bibliography 7 Writing the French Guiana Penal Colony: Starting from the End with Patti Smith and Jean Genet A Historical Overview of Jean Genet’s Writing Experience: Carceral World and Desire Patti Smith’s Gestures and Traces: Gathering the Stones of the Bagne Listening to and Touching Matter: Lessons for Our Contemporary Societies Conclusion Notes References Part III Framing and Reframing the Colonial Prison 8 Graphic Histories of New Caledonia: Visualizing the Bagne Colonial Histories of New Caledonia Other (Graphic) Histories Post-Carceral Histories and Graphic Memories Conclusion Note Works Cited 9 Framing Postcolonial Narratives in the Prison Museum: The Qingdao German Prison Museum Introduction Dimensions of Heritage Methodology Experiencing Postcolonial Narratives at the German Prison Museum in Qingdao—Visitor Perceptions Discussion Conclusion References 10 Framing the Tiger Cages: Contested Symbols of Postcolonial Conflicts in the USA and Vietnam Tiger Cages Remembering Spaces Symbols Heritage Conclusion Notes References 11 Screening (Out) the Isle of Pines Youth Work Camps: Sara Gómez’s 1960s Documentary Trilogy and the Racialized Legacy of Cuban Penal Deportation Panoptical Filmmaking? Gómez’s Documentary Self-Consciousness Performing Racial Truths ‘Bad Seeds’? Cultivating Racial Justice Conclusion Notes References Part IV Creative Encounters in and beyond the Penal Colony 12 Listening with Our Feet: Decolonial and Feminist Arts-Based Methodologies in Addressing Australian Incarceration Policies on Nauru and Manus Islands Island Prisons How Do Artists Listen? Listening Feels a Lot like Learning Listening as a Disruptive Practice Lessons in How (not) to Be Heard Listening with Our Feet Conclusions References 13 Abolitionist Ways of Seeing: Artists in the Penal Colony Complex The Site of Immigration Detention as a Carceral Extension of the Colonies Architecture and Abolition in the History of the Penal Colony Conclusion References Index