Ethnographies of the Carceral State II

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

These panels bring together ethnographers who are critically examining the carceral state in diverse settings, not only the prison itself, but the sprawling regulatory network formed by drug treatment, parole supervision, welfare provision and reentry programming. The researchers draw on the personal stories and lived experience of people navigating these spaces to interrogate the gendered and racialized logics of contemporary carceral governance. They also turn the spotlight on the practice of ethnography, discussing methodological dilemmas of research with stigmatized and heavily-policed groups located on the social margins. The panels are intended to promote discussion about the role of ethnography in criminology and the contribution of this research to developing critical accounts of mass incarceration.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 50. Mass Incarceration

Individual Presentations

• Reentry and Carceral Spaces: iPhones, Technology, and Ethnographic Fieldwork - CalvinJohn Smiley, Hunter College, CUNY

• “Obedience is a Sure Favor”: How Prison Religion Leads to Material Inequality - Rachel Ellis, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Diffuse Surveillance Structures in the Contemporary Prison: the Gendering of Discipline and the Shifting Burden of Rehabilitation Under Neoliberal Penology - Michael Gibson-Light, The University of Arizona

• The Recovery Hustle: Race and Reintegration in Postindustrial America - Liam Martin, Victoria University of Wellington

Discussant

• Megan Comfort, RTI International