Mimetic Governmentality and the Administration of Colonial Justice in East Timor, ca. 1860–1910

Abstract

In this article I explore the mimesis of indigenous "customs and law" as a theory and strategy of colonial governance in the Portuguese colony of Timor. By looking at the judicial theories and practice of Portuguese colonial governors, judges, and officers, I propose that a mimetic form of govemmen tality emerged there in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. I pay particular attention to the role played by scientific and juridical doctrines, prag matic considerations, and imageries of human difference in its establishment as a rationale for the colonial state. As such, this essay analyzes the productive character of mimesis within colonial government activity. In anthropology and post-colonial studies, the theme of indigenous subversion of, or resistance and opposition to colonialism bears dominantly on approaches to mimicry and mimesis in colonial interactions. 1 Here I will examine alternative routes, inves tigating how mimesis could play in favor of rather than against colonial power. I delve into how, during the heyday of imperialism, European colonial rulers fleshed out a theory of mimesis of the indigenous world as a rationale of

Introduction

“…"In the colonial mode of production of reality, as in the Putumayo," Taussig (1987: 134) observes, "such mimesis occurs by a colonial mirroring of otherness that reflects back onto the colonists the barbarity of their own social relations, but as imputed to the savagery they yearn to colonize." As a recent study argues (Roque 2015b), and as Ladwig's and Roque's articles in this issue further explore, Taussig's work can be used for developing new readings of the history and anthropology of mimesis and the colonial state.…”

“…In addition to these practical considerations, it is crucial to mention that imitation as an interpretive framework occupied an important place in colonial epistemologies. Imitation was an essential tool for thinking through norms of social and intercultural behavior in the colonies, but it was also relevant in wider debates on colonial policy and sciences, especially from the nineteenth century onward (see Bastos, this issue; Grandmaison 2009;Roque 2015b;Saada 2005;Singaravélou 2011). Whether or not they were consciously making use of notions of imitation, colonial administrators could pragmatically and parasitically look to local structures and indigenous realities as examples and models for establishing their own peculiar forms of rule-especially in backwater settings, where reliance on local resources became critical for the survival of the usually fragile and isolated 'white' colonial communities (Roque 2010a(Roque , 2010b.…”

“…The results could later be reused and replicated back in metropolitan settings. In this vein, in another article that gained from exchanges with authors in this issue, Roque (2015b) merges perspectives from governmentality studies and imitation to propose the notion of 'mimetic governmentality' as a broader conceptual framework for the combined study of mimesis and government (see also Ladwig 2011). Roque (2015b: 69) suggests that we have to take into account "the theories, techniques, and tactics concerned with the 'government of others' whose underlying principle of action is the incorporation and reproduction of the perceived Otherness of so-called 'native' or 'primitive' populations, with a view to rule and conduct their existence."…”

Mimesis and Colonialism: Emerging Perspectives on a Shared History

“…45 Roque has recently revisited Taussig's point on the magic of colonial mimesis to propose the notion of "mimetic governmentality," as an organized form of exercising colonial rule through a slippage into the otherness of "native societies" or, even, indigenous headhunting rites. 46 Mimesis and imitation, then, can be seen as practices through which colonial agents organized their social lives, daily routines and strategies in relation to the local worlds they encountered. Stories of Europeans "going native"for instance by adopting polygamous behaviour, non-Christian beliefs, or turning into cannibals or head-huntersstand as evidence of both the fascination and anxiety that surrounded the mimetic transit into "other," non-European, cultures.…”