Building foundation of solidarity across prison walls: spaces of horizontal knowledge production and transformative resistance within environments of oppression, violence and social control
Graduation Date
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Other
Program
Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Social Science: Environment and Community, 2011
Committee Chair Name
Jessica LeAnn Urban
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Justice Now, Participatory action research (PAR), Horizontal knowledge production, Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Environment and Community, California women’s prisons, Prison abolition, Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), Solidarity, Intersectional feminism
Abstract
Feminist scholars and activists critique oppressive ideologies that construct the female criminal as "other" and many call for the abolition of the prison industrial complex. I argue abolition is only possible if practiced in solidarity with people inside prison, without furthering oppressive ideologies, constructions of "other" and hierarchal interactions. This project, and the handbook that emerged from it, seeks to advance collective and horizontal knowledge production, resistance, and solidarity among activists inside and outside. Drawing upon a theoretical framework comprised of intersectional feminism and participatory action research, I worked directly with people inside Central California Women's Facility (CCWF), those previously housed inside CCWF, and Justice Now, through on-site interviews and mail correspondence. Together, nine co-researchers and I assembled a handbook from inside, talking to those outside, in an effort to build solidarity with Bay Area anti-prison groups and across prison walls.
Recommended Citation
Page, Sam McEwen, "Building foundation of solidarity across prison walls: spaces of horizontal knowledge production and transformative resistance within environments of oppression, violence and social control" (2011). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2099.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2099
https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/tm70mx306