Global Carceral States

Catalog description

This course focuses on carceralism—that is, forms of un-freedom—including, but not limited to incarceration. Students learn about four overarching sets of issues: (1) the ways & reasons states confine people (and categories of people) deemed to be dangerous, hostile, or superfluous in prisons, detention facilities, encampments, or enwalled lands; (2) the strategies and technologies developed and used to manage and treat people within carceral settings; (3) ways in which carceralized people resist repressive conditions individually and collectively; and (4) the ways carceral regimes can be challenged. The aim of the class is to study carcerality through multiple scales and perspectives, and to compare carceralism in different settings.