Historical criminology, embodiment, and phenomenology

• In Event: EHC-WG Panel 4: Theoretical and Pedagogical Innovations in Historical Criminology

Abstract

In their recent book, Historical Criminology, Churchill, Yeomans, and Channing (2022, pp. 6, 43-44) use the term “embodied time”, i.e., “a time embodied in things and a time to which things belong”, to illustrate the historical specificity and historicity of crime. This article proposes that the concept of embodiment, if used in its phenomenological sense, would better serve the purpose of analysing how the past shapes our understanding of crime and criminal justice. Collective memories that underlie emotions and attitudes towards both violence and criminal justice, are often constructed through experiences in interactions, rather than merely through narratives and discourse. To put it differently, such attitudes develop as a result of our capacity to reconstruct and re-actualize patterns of dispositions formed through a history of encounters. Drawing on phenomenological accounts of the role of the body in shaping our experiences and memories, e.g., collective body memories, the article outlines how this occurs in the context of crime and crime control.

Author

• Daniel Gyollai, University of Copenhagen