Deana Heath

Dr Deana Heath

Mid-Career Fellow 2017-18

Colonial Terror: Torture, Violence and the Unmaking of the World

This project will bring two disparate literatures together, namely scholarship on violence in colonial India and sociological research on violence, to consider the connections between forms of violence that are overt and perpetrated by identifiable agents – such as torture – and structural forms of violence in which the effects are not always visible and there are no clear perpetrators. It focuses, firstly, on the torturers themselves, who while agents of violence were also victims of it, since they generally came from the lowest social and economic strata of Indian society – from the strata most affected, in other words, by the structural violence of colonialism.

More information

Research outcomes

Heath, D. (2021).

Colonial terror: Torture and state violence in colonial India. Oxford University Press.

Areas of interest

Colonial History Coloniality Imperialism India Settler Colonialism Cultural History Power Colonial Violence

Cohort

MCF3

Biography

Deana’s early research was comparative in scope; it aimed both to explore the cultural power of colonialism and the differing nature of colonialism in two different types of colonies (namely an ‘exploitation’ colony such as India and settler colonies such as Australia) and their imperial metropole (namely Britain). While her focus was primarily on cultural history – particularly attempts to regulate ‘obscene’ texts and images – she was also interested in how colonial states operated. Such interests drew her to the study of theories of power (particularly Foucault’s concept of governmentality), modernity and globalization. More recently, Deana has developed an interest in violence, particularly in the ways in which colonial regimes – especially in India – employed sovereign power, or the use of force, to enhance and maintain their authority, and the ways this intersected with other forms of power (including both governmentality and biopower). She is particularly interested, moreover, in the impact of such forms of violence on Indian bodies and minds.

Biographical details correct as of 27.10.24