October 4, 2015 - 13:55
I am still interested in pursuing "criminal" as an identity and the effects of that identity (whether claimed or imposed... often both) on incarcerated individuals. Art that complicates and combats this identity is what I've found is driving my research... I haven't had the opportunity just yet to explore where I can find more websites like :
http://www.performingstatistics.com/ (Combatting the stereotypes of "criminal", especially powerful since teens who are labelled as such are the ones who are working against it)
http://narrative.ly/stories/everyday-life-in-incarceration-nation/ (putting faces to the generic name of "Criminal," exposes the personhood of people behind bars)
which have both really inspired me for this project. I don't exactly know where to look, though. The more art that I have seen that deconstructs criminality also motivates me to research more about projects like Performing Statistics, especially the agency that (previously + presently) incarcerated individuals have in these intitiatives. I also wonder what common threads these projects have with each other. Maybe programs like this could be a component of the "rehabilitation" aspect of imprisonment?
Comments
A couple of readings on stigma
Submitted by jschlosser on October 8, 2015 - 14:02 Permalink
Michelle Alexander cites two books that look good on this topic:
Donald Braman, Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Michigan, 2004). (Amazon.)
Todd Clear, Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Oxford, 2007). (Amazon.)
Alexander discusses these in her chapter called "The Cruel Hand"; the notes appear on p. 270.