Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India
This essay examines the spectacular and stage-managed mass executions carried out during the East India Company administration’s campaign against thug criminals during the 1830s. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the execution as an occasion for the demonstration of the authority of the state, it ana...
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| Format: | Article |
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Manchester University Press
2010
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1985/ |
| _version_ | 1848790698025811968 |
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| author | ní Fhlathúin, Máire |
| author_facet | ní Fhlathúin, Máire |
| author_sort | ní Fhlathúin, Máire |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This essay examines the spectacular and stage-managed mass executions carried out during the East India Company administration’s campaign against thug criminals during the 1830s. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the execution as an occasion for the demonstration of the authority of the state, it analyses contemporary accounts of the staging and reception of colonial executions, considering them as performances that fall on the boundary between social drama and stage drama, and arguing that such events can be seen as rituals of social negotiation rather than performances of state authority of the kind suggested by Foucault. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:16:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-1985 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:16:45Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Manchester University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-19852020-05-04T20:26:05Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1985/ Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India ní Fhlathúin, Máire This essay examines the spectacular and stage-managed mass executions carried out during the East India Company administration’s campaign against thug criminals during the 1830s. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the execution as an occasion for the demonstration of the authority of the state, it analyses contemporary accounts of the staging and reception of colonial executions, considering them as performances that fall on the boundary between social drama and stage drama, and arguing that such events can be seen as rituals of social negotiation rather than performances of state authority of the kind suggested by Foucault. Manchester University Press 2010 Article PeerReviewed ní Fhlathúin, Máire (2010) Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, 37 (1). pp. 23-32. ISSN 1748-3727 http://manchester.metapress.com/content/m12r04787phv4341/ doi:10.7227/NCTF.37.1.5 doi:10.7227/NCTF.37.1.5 |
| spellingShingle | ní Fhlathúin, Máire Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title | Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title_full | Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title_fullStr | Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title_short | Staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in British India |
| title_sort | staging criminality and colonial authority: the execution of thug criminals in british india |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1985/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1985/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1985/ |