Women in Prison:Literature & AntiCarceral Feminism

This class offers a multifaceted approach to anti-carceral feminism based on literary works of various genres, including essays, fiction, and poetry, as well as a reflection on the demands of organisations working to defend the rights of imprisoned women and the abolition of prisons. Based on Angela Davis' analysis on how gender structures the incarceration system, the class will dive into several literary works written inside and about prisons. In parallel, it will study collective struggles that denounce incarceration as a method of social control, emphasising the double punishment that the penal system represents for women and their families. Authors such as Albertine Sarrazin, Nawal El Saadawi, Patricia Heras, Donna Hylton, Assata Shakur, among others, will form a literary corpus to analyse the most relevant aspects of structure and style when the act of writing is conditioned by confinement. Likewise, this class will offer an overview of international civil organisations, such as Sisters Inside and La Corda Presxs, whose paradigms propose a transfeminist, anti-colonial, and anti-capitalist critique of the penitentiary system.

We are committed to making our sessions as accessible as possible. If you are unable to pay the full amount for this class, please reach out to us via email at [email protected] and we will provide you with a discount code.