First-Year Writing Sem: Prison Abolition?: Origins, Debates, and Practices

Catalog description

Should prisons be abolished? What motivates this idea and social movement? Is abolition possible? Is it even a good idea? This course reconstructs the historical conditions and public discourses that produced the initial call for prison abolition in the 1960s and analyzes the debates and advancements developed during the subsequent decades. We read, interpret, and write about the empirical evidence, philosophical arguments, lived experiences, and practical experiments in support and critique of this movement to bring about a world without prisons and carceral culture in general. In the process, students cultivate the ability to produce persuasive essays, argue for a position, and effectively integrate a variety of forms of evidence. Theorists read include George Jackson, Angela Davis, Michel Foucault, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Orisanmi Burton, James Kilgore, Mariame Kaba, Tommie Shelby, and others.