Constructing Death: Capital Punishment in Colonial Senegal

FAIN: HB-272999-21

Dior Konate
South Carolina State University (Orangeburg, SC 29115-4427)

Research and writing leading to a book on the history of capital punishment in Colonial Senegal between the 1820s and the 1960s.

Introduced in Senegal in 1824, capital punishment was a key element in the mechanism of colonial repression. Yet, it was not enforced until 1899 when the first public guillotine execution took place in Saint-Louis, the colony’s administrative capital, thus setting in motion the machinery of death. This book investigates the history of capital punishment in Senegal from the 1820s to the 1960s by exploring the role it played to mete out punishment and to maintain law and order. It also analyses its role in citizenship building to unlock the multiple and complex determinants in its practice. Its main objective is to analyze the evolution of capital punishment and its impact on the development of the colonial state by highlighting the construction of death sentences and what it reveals about the French’s concerns with citizenship building. The book will contribute to the scholarship on colonialism and punishment in colonial Africa and enhance the global debates about capital punishment.

Media Coverage

National Endowment for Humanities Awards SC State University Professor $60,000 Research Fellowship (Media Coverage)
Author(s): South Carolina State University-University Relations
Publication: South Carolina State University-University Relations
Date: 2/9/2021
URL: http://www.scsu.edu/nationalendowmentforhumanitiesawardsscstateuniversityprofessor60000researchfellowship.aspx

Associated Products

For African nations, capital punishment is a grim colonial legacy that lingers on (Article)
Title: For African nations, capital punishment is a grim colonial legacy that lingers on
Author: Dior Konate
Abstract: This piece discusses briefly the colonial legacy of capital punishment across Africa.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/10/african-nations-capital-punishment-colonial-legacy-racism?fbclid=IwAR0QWeVEymlhEOARxB0UsyIMxDB02Vlls7_LUxhdmkoxOJL8vvYPBtpA_kE
Access Model: it is open access and subscription
Format: Newspaper
Publisher: The Guardian

Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Capital Punishment in Colonial Senegal (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Capital Punishment in Colonial Senegal
Author: Dior Konate
Abstract: Capital punishment was a key element in the mechanism of colonial repression in French Senegal. Although it was first introduced in 1824, soon after the French recaptured Senegal in 1817, concerns for capital punishment and capital crimes emerged in Senegal as early as the 1780s, a time of booming French trade in the region. Yet, capital punishment was not fully enforced until 1899 when took place in Saint-Louis, the colony’s administrative capital, the first public guillotine execution. A defining moment in the history of punishment in Senegal, this first execution charts the ways in which capital punishment had evolved in Senegal but also the complexities inherent in its practice. This paper examines the historical context of the introduction, evolution, and transformation of capital punishment in Senegal with special attention to the legislation and politics of the death penalty. Its main objective is to analyze its impact on the development of the colonial state by showing how it was conceptualized and contextualized. This paper asks: How did capital punishment fit into the larger project of colonial repression in Senegal? How, why, and when, it did become institutionalized as a form of punishment? How has it evolved over time? What it tells us about France’s rule of law in Senegal but also about legal justice and hegemonic rule in the colonial context? By responding to these questions, this paper will contribute to African penal histories and the global history of punishment.
Date: 11/18/2022
Primary URL: https://africanstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/final_2022_asa_meeting_program-web.pdf
Primary URL Description: Program of the 65th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA). Conference Theme: "African Urbanities: Mobility, Creativity, and Challenges." Philadelphia, PA, November 17-20, 2022.
Conference Name: African Studies Association (ASA)

The Machinery of Death: Capital Punishment in Colonial Senegal (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Machinery of Death: Capital Punishment in Colonial Senegal
Author: Dior Konate
Abstract: Capital punishment was a key element in the mechanism of colonial repression in French Senegal. Introduced in Senegal in 1824; it was not fully enforced until the late 1890s when took place in Saint-Louis the first public guillotine execution, setting in motion the machinery of death and the wheels of capital punishment in France’s oldest colony in West Africa. This paper investigates the history of capital punishment in Senegal. It explores the role it played to mete out punishment and to maintain law, order, and security. It also analyses its role in building colonial citizenship/statehood. Its main objective is to analyze the evolution of capital punishment and its impact on the development of the colonial state in French Senegal by showing how death sentences were constructed. By contributing to a broader history of capital punishment in Africa and the global debates about the death penalty, the paper will address the following questions: How did capital punishment fit into the larger project of colonial repression in Senegal? How were capital crimes constructed? When was it institutionalized as a form of punishment? The paper is organized into three parts. The first part discusses the contextualization and conceptualization of capital punishment in colonial Senegal. The second one centers on its institutionalization and how the implementation of judicial reforms in French West Africa shaped its practice over time. Part three examines the dynamics of capital trials.
Date: 03/04/2023
Primary URL: https://www.sersas.org/2023-spring-conference-program
Primary URL Description: Final Program of the Spring 2023 Southeast Regional Seminar in African Studies (SERSAS): Conference Theme: "Fifty Years of SERSAS: Foundations and Features." March 3-4, 2023, the University of Virginia
Conference Name: Southeast Regional Seminar in African Studies (SERSAS)

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