Anthropology 246-248: Special Topics in Peoples and Cultures

Credits 1 4
Credit Type

 

This course is designed to offer a critical and comparative examination of carceral systems through a global perspective. Our analysis will encompass three broad areas: (a) ideologies used by states and other authorities to incarcerate individuals or groups seen as threatening, incorrigible, or redundant, in various types of confinement such as prisons, detention centers, camps, or enclosed territories; (b) infrastructures and technologies deployed in carceral spaces for control and treatment of the incarcerated (e.g. isolation, surveillance, abandonment) (c) diverse forms of resistance and survival strategies employed by those under carceral control (e.g. hunger strikes, prison writing, collective care). Our goal is to delve into the concept of carcerality from various angles and scales, comparing its manifestations across different global contexts. Ethnographic and historical case studies will include Brazil, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, China, South Africa, Russia, Iran, Palestine, Turkey, and the U.S. The course primarily follows a format of lecture presentations, which are then followed by engaging and interactive discussions. Assignments include weekly response papers, podcast presentation, a comparative review of ethnographies, and a mini ethnography of an abolitionist campaign/project.

Distribution Area
Students entering prior to Fall 2024: Social Sciences (SO DIST)