Description
Book SynopsisWestern philosophy's relationship with prisons stretches from Plato's own incarceration to the modern era of mass incarceration. Philosophy Imprisoned: The Love of Wisdom in the Age of Mass Incarceration draws together a broad range of philosophical thinkers, from both inside and outside prison walls, in the United States and beyond, who draw on a variety of critical perspectives (including phenomenology, deconstruction, and feminist theory) and historical and contemporary figures in philosophy (including Kant, Hegel, Foucault, and Angela Davis) to think about prisons in this new historical era. All of these contributors have experiences within prison walls: some are or have been incarcerated, some have taught or are teaching in prisons, and all have been students of both philosophy and the carceral system. The powerful testimonials and theoretical arguments are appropriate reading not only for philosophers and prison theorists generally, but also for prison reformers and abolitionists
Trade Review[T]he personal reflections concerning the impact of philosophy on the lives and experiences of incarcerated men were. . . .moving and powerful. Though the book considers the important transformative role of philosophy in prison, other studies point to the greater importance of college in prison programs in reducing recidivism rates. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. * CHOICE *
Philosophy Imprisoned is a unique and often startling reflection on the importance of philosophy and teaching philosophy in prisons. Incorporating essays from prisoners and professional philosophers, this volume shows what philosophy can do even in the direst of circumstances. -- Kelly Oliver, SUNY, Stony Brook
Sarah Tyson and Joshua M. Hall have compiled a diverse collection of writing by philosophers behind bars and beyond them. The book offers important insights into the meaning of thought and action in a world shaped by mass incarceration. By connecting the personal and the theoretical, these reflections on teaching and learning philosophy in prison affirm the importance of the examined life as a practice of freedom and of mutual transformation. -- Lisa Noelle Guenther, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University
Philosophy Imprisoned is a disturbing and moving collection of diverse philosophical engagements. Critical prison scholars and educators who teach across prison walls will find much common cause here, but also much to question their complacencies. Philosophers will find nothing less than a radical challenge to academic philosophy and a powerful endorsement of the power of philosophy to transform the world. -- Michael Hames-Garcia, University of Oregon
Table of ContentsPart I: Identity 1. Reforming Me, Philosophy, Timothy Greenlee 2. What’s Wrong with Us?: Outsider Ethics and Mass Incarceration, Chris Lenn 3. Emancipating the Carceral Subject: A Propaedeutic to an Integrated Prison Pedagogy, John Douglas Macready 4. Women Haters Club: Maximized Misogyny in Men’s Prisons and Its Tie to the Patriarchy, Anders “Andy” Benander, III 5. Criminal Masculinity: Male Prisons and the Construction of Gender, Natalie Cisneros 6. Du Bois, Foucault, and Self-Torsion: Criterion of Imprisoned Art, Joshua M. Hall 7. One Foot in Darkness, Spoon Jackson Part Two: Community 8. A Prisoner’s Perspective on Prison, Arlando “Tray” Jones III 9. Awakenings and Seductions: Text, Literacy and the Lived Experience of Fathers in Prison, William Muth and Ginger Walker 10. Hegel Goes to Prison: Punishment, Education, and Mutual Recognition, Eric Anthamatten 11. Unchained Melody: Philosophical Reflections from the Working Classics Program, Michael DeWilde with students Abigail DeHart, Katie Stefanek and Emily Stroka 12. Just Visiting: Epistemic Obstacles to Justice on Death Row, Lisa McLeod 13. Prisoners: “They’re Animals” and Their Animals, Drew Leder with Vincent Greco 14. Organizing Dead Matter into Effective Energy, Andre Pierce 15. Re-humanizing the Inmate: Wacquant on Race-making, Sequestered Spaces, and the Quest for a “We” Narrative, Cynthia Nielsen 16. Free Spirit in the House of the Dead, Atif Rafay 17. Cartesian Meditations: Voice, Body, Mind and Prison, Aislinn O’Donnell and Anonymous Contributors
