Rethinking Racialised Mass Incarceration Through Critical Phenomenology

• In Event: Theoretical Perspectives in Critical Criminology

Abstract

This paper employs a critical phenomenological framework to explore the institutional values, laws, policies, and principles that lead to the over-incarceration of the racialised Other. Critical phenomenology is a socio-political and historically grounded method of inquiry that examines the quasi-transcendental structures of society that shape and are shaped by embodied ways of existing. Beliefs and norms that are held within the criminal justice system are closely tied to the material conditions of colonisation and the racialised discourses that are naturalised into the consciousness of the human condition. In this context, understanding the racialised Other needs to move away from traditional ways of knowing to a more transformative one that is situated within the heteropatriarchal, hegemonic, and racist matrices of power. Qualitative data was collected by conducting eight in-depth semi structured interviews with ex-transgender prisoners from New Zealand and New York. This produced valuable data on how they navigate and negotiate their identities, relationships, and over-all wellbeing while incarcerated. The study also illustrates that critical phenomenology can provide a pathway to reimagining and transforming criminological research, ultimately leading to more effective policies and practices.

Author

• Suraya Fransc'ese Dewing, University of Auckland