In colonial Bengal, the average police constable was largely unlettered. Nevertheless, constables were at the frontline in the enforcement of colonial law. This paradox of an unlettered constabulary enforcing the letter of law defies the familiar logic in the historical scholarship on British India that associates the written word with histories of state power and orality with histories of subaltern classes. In a departure from the existing literature on the significance of writing and documentary power for modern state-making, this article uncovers a world of orality at the heart of state power. To do this, the article deploys a labour history method to the vast archive of the colonial police and explores the play of orality in the labouring lives of police constables in colonial Bengal. In the nineteenth century, colonial officials responded to the illiteracy of their constabulary workforce by organizing oral instruction in law at police stations. The constable heard the law as speech rather than grasping it as text. In this aural space, his consciousness became a site for the reinterpretation of the law, refracted through the operation of the security labour market, his conditions of work, and the modes of constabulary training. Moreover, oral modalities structured how the police worked on the streets, and police officials, despite complaining about the illiteracy of constables, exploited this illiteracy to consolidate the violent power of the colonial police.

中文翻译：

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孟加拉殖民地的口头、国家权力和警务劳动，约 1850-1947 年


在殖民地孟加拉，普通警员基本上没有字母。尽管如此，警察仍处于执行殖民地法律的第一线。这种无字警察执行法律条文的悖论违背了英属印度历史学术中熟悉的逻辑，即将书面文字与国家权力的历史联系起来，将口头与下层阶级的历史联系起来。与关于写作和纪实权力对现代国家塑造意义的现有文献不同，本文揭示了位于国家权力核心的口头世界。为此，本文将劳工历史方法应用于殖民地警察的大量档案，并探讨了口述在殖民地孟加拉警察的劳动生活中的作用。在 19 世纪，殖民地官员通过在警察局组织法律口头教学来应对警察工作人员的文盲。警员以言语的形式来听法律，而不是以文本的形式来理解它。在这个听觉空间中，他的意识成为重新解释法律的场所，通过安全劳动力市场的运作、他的工作条件和警察培训模式而折射出来。此外，口头方式构建了警察在街头的工作方式，警察官员尽管抱怨警察文盲，但利用这种文盲来巩固殖民地警察的暴力权力。