Is it possible to imagine a world without prisons? How would this world look? What leaps of the imagination might be required to overcome incarceration? By reading and discussing texts, images and film that shapes and contests dominant perceptions around the longevity of prison, this two-day workshop will consider the difficult long-term labour of dismantling existing carceral systems.
This workshop is also exploring the links between the world’s prison systems, racist and colonial structures. Prisons continue to perpetuate social inequality, and there is a danger that this will only intensify in the context of increased forced migration and reduced resources resulting from climate disaster.
Attendance is free. Please register to attend and to receive advance reading materials.
This event is supported as part of the AHRC-funded research project Postcards from the bagne, led by Sophie Fuggle at Nottingham Trent University.
Programme 11 July 2019
11.00am Registration with coffee
11.30-12.30 Session 1 – Imagining a world with prison. Led by Ayshka Sené, Nottingham Trent University
Selected reading: Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (Chapter 2)
12.30-1.30 Lunch (provided)
1.30-2.45 Session 2 – Nature writing. Led by Andrea Beckmann, Critical criminologist and social pedagogue
Selected reading: Henry Thoreau’s Walden; or life in the woods (extract tbc)
2.45-3.00 Break
3.00-4.00 Guest Talk. In conversation with a former resident of HMP Grendon.
Programme 12th July 2019
11.00am Welcome with Coffee
11.15am Session 3 – Against mass incarceration. Led by John Moore, Newham University
Selected reading: Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (Chapter 4)
12.30 Lunch (provided)
1.30-2.45 Session 4 – Ecology and the colonial project. Led by Sophie Fuggle, Nottingham Trent University
Selected reading: Kathryn Yusoff’s A Billion Black Anthropocene’s or none (Chapter ‘The Inhumanities’)
2.45-3.00 Break
3.00-4.00 Guest Talk. Blue Bag Life (Lisa Selby and Elliot Murawski)
The Instagram account ‘bluebaglife’, gives insight into Lisa Selby and Elliot Murawski’s relationship, with their combined first hand experiences of prison, mental health and class A drug addiction. It highlights issues that are often misrepresented, if they are spoken about at all. Bluebaglife offers the perspectives of those held inside institutions, or are hiding away due to shame and stigma, as well as loved ones supporting them. Strong and motivated support networks are developing across a range of platforms, in the hope of awareness and social change.
Image credit: Claire Reddleman, Bars and Moss, 2018. Courtesy the artist
Nottingham Contemporary’s public programme is jointly funded by Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham.
This event is at Nottingham Contemporary
Weekday Cross
Nottingham
NG1 2GB
0115 948 9750
Carceral Geography 