dc.description.abstract | The discourse surrounding the punishment of offenders within a
society reveals much about the particular ideological
underpinnings of power within that society. Penal discourse
within colonial societies is particularly interesting in that it traces
the specific contours of the racist ideologies which characterise
those societies. This article is focused upon penal discourse
within the Colony of Natal towards the end of the nineteenth and
beginning of the twentieth centuries. Within the colony at this
time, the race of an offender was becoming increasingly
important in determining the type of punishment, treatment and
training considered appropriate for that offender. This article is
focused - in particular - upon the discourse surrounding the
punishment of "European" offenders in colonial Natal. It is
submitted that the punishment of these offenders raised all sorts
of ideological problems for the colonists, since the offenders in
question were members of the white "master race". The
following central themes within the colonial penal discourse of
the time are discussed: first, the role that "shame" and
"degradation" were considered to play in the punishment of white
- but not black - prisoners; second, the perceived need to train
white - but not black - prisoners in skilled work, to enable white
prisoners to find employment upon leaving prison; and, third, the
perceived need to keep white - but not black - prisoners out of
the public gaze, in particular avoiding situations in which white
prisoners could be seen being punished alongside black
prisoners and subject to the control of black prison guards.
Examining the precise contours of the penal ideology which
underpinned the punishment of offenders in colonial Natal may
be useful in understanding certain of the foundations of racist
penal thinking during subsequent periods of South African
history, including the notorious apartheid era. | en_US |