Working with Incarcerated Communities: Representing Women in Prison on Screen

Gray, Paul; Schwan, Anne

Abstract

This chapter considers public arts and humanities scholarship and practice in the context of penal institutions, with a focus on women’s prisons and film-making. It argues for a critical-reflective practice, highlighting the opportunities and challenges involved in university-prison engagement. The chapter offers a scholarly context for approaching the representation of incarcerated women and analyzes select examples of prison documentaries before moving on to a case study of On the Outside (2019), a film developed in conversation with women serving time at HMYOI Polmont. The case study highlights the benefits of co-creation while exposing hierarchies and other challenges that pose barriers to co-authorship in such settings. The chapter suggests new directions for the ethics and aesthetics of carceral film-making practices and prison-based public humanities.

Citation

Gray, P., & Schwan, A. (2022). Working with Incarcerated Communities: Representing Women in Prison on Screen. In A. Schwan, & T. Thomson (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Digital and Public Humanities (105-128). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11886-9_7

• Acceptance Date: Sep 23, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 5, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 26, 2020
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 105-128
• Book Title: The Palgrave Handbook of Digital and Public Humanities
• ISBN: 978-3-031-11885-2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11886-9_7
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2591884