Carceral geographers and others working on the embodiment of confinement may wish to contribute to an upcoming seminar:

The Research Groups ‘Crime & Society’ (CRiS) and ‘Social and Cultural Food Studies’ (FOST) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, extend an invitation to the international seminar ‘Food in Prison. International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives’, which will take place in Brussels (Belgium) on the 21-22 September.

The goal of this seminar is not only to offer an overview of studies on prison food, but to stimulate scientific discussion over the different disciplines on specific prison food related topics, such as self-catering systems, hunger strikes, gender issues, etc.

Read the full call for papers here.

Central themes of discussion include: 

• prison food practices in different jurisdictions
• the meanings of food for prisoners
• food as part of the (disciplinary) regime
• hunger strikes in prison
• food as means for protest/ resistance
• prison food and identity construction
• prison food practices and gender
• prison diets

Abstracts on prison food are invited – send by mail to: Esther.Jehaes@vub.be. Deadline: June, 15th. Total word count: 400- 500 words. Notification of acceptance: June, 30th).

The finalized and peer reviewed articles will be published in a special issue of an international peer reviewed journal.

The following key note speakers will be present: Linda Kjaer Minke (Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark), (to be confirmed:) Amy Smoyer (Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University, U.S.), An-Sofie Vanhouche (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium) and Helen Sandwell (nutritionist, Food Matters Inside & Out, U.K.).

For any inquiries regarding the program, please contact:  An-Sofie.Vanhouche@vub.ac.be.