Connected singularities. Convict labour in late colonial Spanish America (1760s-1800)

Throughout history, the forced labour performed by individuals under penal and/or administrative control (i.e. convict labour) has been a seemingly ubiquitous phenomenon. At the same time, scratching below the apparently uniform surface of convict labour reveals fundamental differences related to the social construction of crime, ‘the criminal’ and punishment, and the role it had within distinct labour regimes. In a recent publication Alex Lichtenstein and I have suggested that, rather than seeking to provide an abstract definition of convict labour, scholars may want to address ‘the historical conditions under which convict labour has been produced and exploited in the larger process of the commodification of labour’ [Taken from opening paragraph]