Crime, liberalism and empire: Governing the mina tribe of northern India

Abstract

Cultural analyses of empire inspired by Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) have focused on certain artefacts of imperial thought, representing them as emblematic of a totalizing Orientalist discourse. This article examines one such case in nineteenth-century India: the identification and legal notification of communities as Criminal Tribes. Taking the case of the Mina tribe of northern India, an attempt is made to illustrate how strategies like the criminal tribes policy fall far short of reflecting some broad and monolithic approach to governance. By examining the divergent views of orthodox and authoritarian strains within British liberalism, and showing how they were directly reflected in q..