Fashioning Identities: Convict Dress in Colonial South and Southeast Asia

C Anderson

doi:10.1093/hwj/2001.52.153

Abstract

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in History Workshop Journal following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version History Workshop Journal, 2001, 52, pp. 152-174 is available online at: http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/2001/52/153.full.pdf+html.

Highlights

As the British made inroads into the Indian subcontinent during the late eighteenth century, they were faced with a society which seemed both complex and elusive
Together with other bodily signs such as tattoos,[4] hairstyles, moustaches and beards, were key to the identification of individuals for surveillance purposes. This was true for those affected by the Criminal Tribes Acts
By the mid-twentieth century, the Acts affected over thirteen million people

Summary

Introduction

As the British made inroads into the Indian subcontinent during the late eighteenth century, they were faced with a society which seemed both complex and elusive. From the late eighteenth to the mid twentieth centuries, the British transported tens of thousands of Indian convicts overseas to penal settlements in Southeast Asia, Mauritius and the Andaman Islands.

Results

Conclusion