Description
Book SynopsisFor the overwhelming majority of women leaving correctional institutions in the United States, there is one aspect of their identity that informs their needs, opportunities, hopes, and dreams: their roles as mothers. This Is Our Freedom provides an intimate and moving portrait of women's journeys prior to and after incarceration. In interviews with seventy formerly incarcerated mothers, Geniece Crawford Mondé captures how women reframe their marginalized identity and place themselves at the center of their own stories. With incisive analysis, Mondé reveals the complex ways that motherhood shapes post-incarceration life, while highlighting how the lasting legacy of mass incarceration continues to impact society's most vulnerable members.
Trade Review"Mondé presents a ripe opportunity for criminology to develop life course theory and understand the complexities that exist when motherhood becomes intertwined with experiences of incarceration and marginalisation."
* Journal of Criminology. *
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Marginalized from the Beginning
2. Love, Baby, and Chaos
3. Crime, Agency, and Postcarceral Narratives
4. The Duality of Marginalized Motherhood
5. The Project of Rehabilitation: The Duality of Place and People
Conclusion: The Unasked Question
Appendix: Research Methods and Respondent Characteristics
Notes
References
Index
