Research Question:
How did anti-colonial social thought after the end of World War II inform the genealogy of modern American prison abolition and African American sentiments of the prison as a site of oppression and resistance?
Project Summary:
My project analyzes archival newspaper data from the Nation of Islam, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Black Panther Party to understand how each grappled with burgeoning anticolonial movements after World War II. Seeing examples of decolonization in Algeria, Ghana, India, China, and Mozambique inspired Black Americans to view American carceral institutions, like jails and prisons, as inherently colonial institutions. By analyzing this connection, this project argues that oppression is a universal experience, but so is liberation.
Student: Ameya Kamani (Government, '26)
Collaborators: Alex Livingston