Prison Pedagogies: Learning and Teaching with Imprisoned Writers

In a time of increasing mass incarceration, US prisons and jails are becoming a major source of literary production. Prisoners write for themselves, fellow prisoners, family members, and teachers. However, too few write for college credit. In the dearth of well-organized higher education in US prisons, noncredit programs
established by colleges and universities have served as a leading means of informal learning in these settings. Thousands of teachers have entered prisons, many teaching writing or relying on writing practices when teaching other subjects. Yet these teachers have few pedagogical resources. This groundbreaking collection of essays provides such a resource and establishes a framework upon which to develop prison writing programs.

Prison Pedagogies does not champion any one prescriptive approach to writing education but instead recognizes a wide range of possibilities. Essay subjects include working-class consciousness and prison education; community and literature writing at different security levels in prisons; organized writing classes in jails and juvenile halls; cultural resistance through writing education; prison newspapers and writing archives as pedagogical resources; dialogical approaches to teaching prison writing classes; and more. The contributors
within this volume share a belief that writing represents a form of intellectual and expressive self-development in prison, one whose pursuit has transformative potential.

Author: Joe Lockard
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 07/20/2018
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 6.26h x 8.86w x 0.72d
ISBN13: 9780815635819
ISBN10: 0815635818
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Penology
- Education | Teaching | Subjects | Social Science
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Rhetoric

About the Author

Joe Lockard is associate professor of English at Arizona State University.

Sherry Rankins-Robertson is the associate professor of rhetoric and writing at University of Arkansas in Little Rock.