Transportation, Post-Penal Identity and the Life Course - (Emerald Advances in Historical Criminology) by Emma D Watkins (Hardcover)

About the Book

Presenting new case studies that look at the whole lives of former convicts dying in poverty to understand the long-term effects of the convict transportation system, Watkins facilitates an exploration of a broader view of the charitable institutions and its connections with the penal system.

Book Synopsis

Transportation, Post-Penal Identity and the Life Course explores the life-courses of convicts who, after being transported to Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, and released from servitude, died in pauper establishments.

Presenting new case studies that look at the whole lives of former convicts dying in poverty to understand the long-term effects of the convict transportation system, Watkins facilitates an exploration of a broader view of the charitable institutions and its connections with the penal system. Delving into the path dependency and the criminalization of poverty the author uses criminal justice records, civil records, and newspapers for life-course analysis, along with colonial statistical returns and correspondence of officials to contextualize those life-courses. Exploring the Vandemonian charitable system within its post-penal identity and socio-economic context, this book looks at the social mobility of pauper emancipists to disrupt the enduring belief that all convicts who were transported to Australia were 'better-off' and that Australia was a 'working man's paradise' in the context of a re-emerging glorification of empire.

An interdisciplinary work exploring historical documentation and using criminological methodologies to uncover the lives of working-class people, this is insightful reading for researchers interested in the histories of charitable and criminal justice institutions, working class lives, life-course methodology, and criminalization.

Review Quotes

Transportation, Post-Penal Identity and the Life Course is a triumph, in which Watkins has meticulously drawn from the archive to chart the lives of Tasmania's colonial poor. Her skillful historical method allows Watkins to bring the people she writes about to life. This book is a masterclass in how to do life-course research on historical subjects and contexts, offering a robust demonstration of how this type of work can enrich our understanding of where we come from and challenge us to reassess our existing conceptions of the past.

In a groundbreaking study, Watkins explores the post-transportation experiences and lives of people sent to Van Diemen's Land. As a legacy of penal transportation, those labelled as 'wasted' and 'unattractive' were subject to emerging forms of institutional care. By using life-course analysis, this book successfully reveals the lives of women and men who entered and died within the walls of pauper establishments within an institutional context that severely tested their resilience. I don't know any other book which combines this approach to examine this topic, and I greatly appreciated the depth and quality of the empirical research, as will students and researchers of this area.

About the Author

Emma D. Watkins is Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Birmingham, UK.