Imperial Violence: Thinking With and Against ‘Perpetrator and ‘Victim’

2025/05/28 by Nicholas Sprenger · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #South African History and Culture

paper · doi:10.1080/03086534.2025.2501219

openalex publication_date 2025/05/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

The categories of perpetrator and victim are hardwired into how historians have studied the violence of the British Empire. These categories, however, fail to capture the full spectrum of the violence produced by empire. This article asks that we rethink how these categories interact with one another within the inhumane world of empire. In doing so, we can nuance the violence of empire and produce richer accounts about the dehumanisation, brutalisation and terrorisation experienced by imperial subjects across the colonial divide.

Citations

• The British Empire in the Culture War: Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

Discussions

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