Afterlives of colonial incarceration
Exploring the memory politics of former sites of colonial imprisonment across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
How should we approach the architectural legacies of colonialism that mark cities across the globe? Carceral practices were central to colonialism and prisons were often the first buildings erected during the colonisation of Africa. Sites of imprisonment are then key sites of colonial heritage. This project explores the memory politics of former sites of colonial imprisonment in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. It investigates struggles over how these sites have been repurposed (or not), through the preservation or alteration of buildings and spaces. These explorations illuminate postcolonial tensions around identity, Africa’s place in the international, and imagined futures.
About the research project
This project aims to:
- Investigate the official narratives African states and heritage bodies create around sites that were once places of imprisonment either under colonial rule or during anti-colonial struggles.
- Explore the ways in which these official narratives are contested: What elements are disputed? By whom? And with what effects?
- Examine how these processes interact with broader socio-political contexts in different states.
These insights will be used to:
- Illuminate the politics surrounding the memory of colonial imprisonment.
- Uncover what the struggles over the heritage of colonial imprisonment reveal about current penal policy debates.
- Reflect on what this deeper understanding of colonial penal heritage in Africa tells us about struggles over colonial memory across the globe.
Funder: Leverhulme Trust Research Project (Grant RPG-2021-386)
Duration: 1st October 2022 - 30th September 2025
PI and further team:
- Dr. Laura Routley (PI) - Politics, School of Geography Politics and Sociology
- Dr. Chloé Josse-Durand (RA) - Politics, School of Geography Politics and Sociology
- Yusuf Patel (PhD student) - Politics, School of Geography Politics and Sociology
- Prof. Iain Jackson (co-investigator) - Architecture, School of Architecture, University of Liverpool
Further information: The projects website will be coming soon.