Archival Work, References, Research Notes

Joy James: The Architects of Abolitionism

Date: May 14, 2020Author: It's All One Struggle at Base

from its roots with George Jackson and Angela Davis,

to the de-radicalization of prison abolitionism

This website tracks a working dissertation project that I am currently writing. My project concerns the relationship between American Prison Movements between the 1990s and early-2000s, the imprisoned Black radical tradition, Black feminist consciousness, and the movement to abolish the prison industrial complex. Through this research, I am interested in generating a better understanding of the historical role that non-imprisoned people must play in the historical processes of abolition in the United States. Drawing on key movement texts and oral history testimony, I ask: What are the political responsibilities that one inherits as an abolitionist noncaptive in the U.S. context? In what ways does the imprisoned Black radical tradition compel abolitionists in the “free world” to leverage their (relative) freedoms of bodily mobility and resources in new ways? How do Black feminist articulations of abolitionism force a reckoning with the dominant spatial and narrative framings of American prison movements? What do radical-to-revolutionary Black feminisms and the imprisoned Black radical tradition teach us about the RANGE of strategic and tactical options available for non-imprisoned abolitionists in the present?

%d bloggers like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Related