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This special issue aims to generate dialogue around penal systems in global peripheries, challenging dominant frameworks.

July 13, 2026Open Access

Colonialism and Penality: An Introduction

LSLuiz Dal SantoUniversity of Sheffield VRVijay RaghavanTata Institute of Social Sciences RSRuchi SinhaTata Institute of Social Sciences

Key Points

This special issue aims to generate dialogue around penal systems in global peripheries, challenging dominant frameworks.
Collective exploration of historical and empirical examples of penality in peripheral contexts.
Encouragement of exchanges among social researchers from geographically distant regions sharing similar characteristics.
Focus on creating innovative conceptual frameworks that reflect distinct penal rationalities and practices.
Identified the need for a more equitable conversation between established central theories and peripheral penal practices.
Resulted in new theoretical insights drawn from diverse historical contexts, enhancing understanding of global penality.

Abstract

This special issue is the result of a collective effort sustained over time and across borders, seeking to generate dialogue around the production and circulation of knowledge on penality in the global peripheries.This endeavour intentionally seeks to decentre the descriptive and interpretative frameworks concerning the penal past and present that have been constructed around the processes and dynamics of central contexts.Such frameworks have not only occupied a prominent place in the global debate on the subject, but have also been frequently taken for granted and led to uncritical adoption by social researchers working on and within peripheral contexts.The aim of this Special Issue is to build upon in-depth historical and empirical explorations of peripheral penality, in order to foster a more equitable conversation with those central, established theoretical perspectives, thereby enabling conceptual and argumentative innovation capable of accounting for penal rationalities, institutions, and practices rooted in different contexts and histories.At the same time, this initiative aims to encourage an exchange between social researchers working on penality in regions of the world that are geographically distant from one another, yet share-at least in part-economic, political, social, and cultural characteristics linked to their peripheral character and positions within the global order (Dal Santo 2025;Sozzo,

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