Week 1
Wednesday, August 28
· Welcome & Introductions – What are Abolitionist Feminisms?
· In-class – Mia Mingus, Pods and Pod-Mapping Worksheet, Beyond Survival (101-106)
Week 2
Monday, September 2
· Read – Victoria Law, Myth 1: The System of Mass Incarceration is Flawed and Not Working as Designed (Or, A Brief History), Prisons Keep Us Safer
Wednesday, September 4
· Read – Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Preface and Methodology (ix-xxxix)
· Read – Lawrence Bartley, ed. “Her Story,” The Marshall Project (2024): https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/03/22/news-inside-issue-16
Multimedia
· Watch – Noga Ashkenazi, 2012. The Grey Area: Feminism Behind Bars. Women Make Movies
· Recommended – Ejeris Dixon, “Building Community Safety” from Beyond Survival (15-26)
Week 3
Monday, September 9
· Teach-In Project – Review books, rank choices, organize team and committees
· Read – Jones and Nelson, Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Part 1 (3-109)
· Myth 2 – We Need Prisons to Make Us Safer
Wednesday, September 11
· Read – Jones and Nelson, Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Chapters 6 – 7 (113-144)
· Myth 3 – Prisons Are Places of Rehabilitation
Multimedia
· Table Read – Jones and Schmidt, The Duchess of Stringtown
· Recommended – Chanelle Gallant, “When Your Money Counts on It: Sex Work and Transformative Justice,” Beyond Survival (191-204)
Week 4
Monday, September 16
· Read – Jones and Nelson, Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Chapters 9 – 10 (177-200)
· Myth 4 – Private Prison Corporations Drive Mass Incarceration
Wednesday, September 18
· Read – Jones and Nelson, Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Part 3 (203-255)
· Myth 5 – Private Corporations and Profit From Prison Labor Drive Mass Incarceration
Multimedia
· Watch – Erika Cohn, 2020. Belly of the Beast: Two Women Investigate a Pattern of Illegal Sterilizations in Women’s Prisons and Battle the Department of Corrections. Independent Lens, PBS
· Recommended – Amanda Aguilar Shank, “Beyond Firing,” Beyond Survival (27-42)
Week 5
Monday, September 23
· Teach-In Project – Submit background research, plan for division of labor
· Read – Douglas Wertsch, “Iowa’s Daughters: The First Thirty Years of the Girls Reform School of Iowa, 1869-1899,” The Annals of Iowa 49, no. 1 (1987)
· Read – Sharon E. Wood, “Savage Girls: The 1899 Riot at the Mitchellville Girls School,” Iowa Heritage Illustrated 80, no. 3 (1999): https://doi.org/10.17077/1088-5943.1308
Wednesday, September 25
· Read – Jason Ross, “Murder at a Midwest School,” Rootstalk 7, no. 2 (2021): https://rootstalk.grinnell.edu/past-issues/volume-vii-issue-2/ross
· Read – Nkasa Bolumbu, “I Refuse to Fail and Let the System Fail Me: Legislation is Needed to Protect Survivors of Trafficking Following the Pieper Lewis Case,” The Northern Iowan, February 27, 2024: https://www.northerniowan.com/21717/opinion/i-refuse-to-fail-and-let-the-system-fail-me
· Myth 6 – Race Has Nothing to Do With Mass Incarceration
Multimedia
· Watch – Stacey Dooley, Locked Up with the Lifers. BBC Worldwide, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WhfnMuqBus
· Recommended – Blyth Barnow, “Isolation Cannot Heal Isolation,” Beyond Survival (43-48)
Week 6
Monday, September 30
· Teach-In Project – Submit distance reading report, physical and digital library visits
· Read – Trans Lifeline, “Why No Nonconsensual Active Rescue?” Beyond Survival (135-140)
· Read – Fireweed Collective, “When it all Comes Crashing Down,” Beyond Survival (127-134)
· Myth 7 – Don’t Do the Crime if You Can’t Do the Time
Wednesday, October 2
· Read – Audre Lorde Project, “Safer Party Toolkit,” Beyond Survival (173-188)
· Myth 8 – Jails and Prisons Provide People with Needed Mental Healthcare
Multimedia
· Watch – Shola Lynch, 2013. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
· Recommended – Janaé Brown, “Black Queer Feminisms as Praxis,” Beyond Survival (49-54)
Week 7
Monday, October 14
· Read – Abolition. Feminism. Now. Part 1: Abolition
· Myth 9 – People in Prison Jump the Line for Life-Saving Medical Care
Wednesday, October 16
· Read – JB Nicholas, “August Rebellion: New York’s Forgotten Female Prison Riot,” The Free Lance, 2016, https://www.thefreelancenews.org/home/throwback-thursday-august-rebellion-new-yorks-forgotten-female-prison-riot
· Recommended – Lucy Trainor, 2006. “Women’s Prison Activism.” Barnard Center for Research on Women, https://bcrw.barnard.edu/archive/prison.htm
· Myth 10 – Incarceration is an Effective Way to Get People into Drug Treatment
Multimedia
· Listen – Rosemary Green, 2021. “Inside and Indigenous,” Life Jolt podcast, CBC Radio, https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/903-life-jolt
· Recommended – Audrey Huntley, “From Breaking Silence to Community Control,” Beyond Survival (55-66)
Week 8
Fall Break: October 19-27
Week 9
Monday, October 28
· Teach-In Project: submit close reading report including annotations and follow-up queries
· Read – Abolition. Feminism. Now. Part 2: Feminism
· Myth 11 – Mass Incarceration Only Affects Black Cisgender Men
Wednesday, October 30
· Read – Kai Cheng Thom, What to Do When You’ve Been Abusive,” Beyond Survival (67-78)
· Recommended – Mia Mingus, 2019. “The Four Parts of Accountability & How to Give a Genuine Apology,” Leaving Evidence, https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2019/12/18/how-to-give-a-good-apology-part-1-the-four-parts-of-accountability
· Myth 12 – Bringing Up a History of Abuse and Violence is Simply an “Abuse Excuse”
Multimedia
· Listen – Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods, 2023. “Bunkies,” Ear Hustle podcast, Radiotopia and the California Institution for Women, https://www.earhustlesq.com
· Recommended – Nathan Shara, “Facing Shame,” Beyond Survival (221-232)
Week 10
Monday, November 4
· Read – Abolition. Feminism. Now. Part 3: Now
· Myth 13 – Mass Incarceration and Immigrant Detention are Unrelated Issues
Wednesday, November 6
· Read – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Cripping TJ,” Beyond Survival (233-248)
· Myth 14 – Most People Are in Prison for Nonviolent Drug Offenses
Multimedia
· Watch – Brett Story, 2016. The Prison in Twelve Landscapes. Grasshopper Films
· Recommended – adrienne maree brown, “What Is/Isn’t Transformative Justice,” Beyond Survival (249-254)
Week 11
Monday, November 11
· Teach-In Project: submit text assessment and proposal for creative translation
· Myth 15 – People in Prison Don’t Resist or Organize Against Abusive Conditions
Wednesday, November 13
· Read – Staci K. Haines et al. “Ending Child Sexual Abuse,” Beyond Survival (107-118)
· Myth 16 – Prisons Keep us Safe from Murders and Rapists
Multimedia
· View – American Prison Newspaper Archive, https://www-jstor-org.grinnell.idm.oclc.org/site/reveal-digital/american-prison-newspapers
· Recommended – Elizabeth Long, “Venn Diagrams as Healing Practice,” Beyond Survival
Week 12
Monday, November 18
· Read – Leigh Goodmark, 2021. Chapter 6 from Decriminalizing Domestic Violence: A Balanced Policy Approach to Intimate Partner Violence
· Myth 17 – Incarceration and Sex Offender Registries are Necessary to Keep Children Safe
Wednesday, November 20
· Read – Mimi Kim, “Moving Beyond Critique,” Beyond Survival (301-320)
· Myth 18 – The System is Broken and We Simply Need Some Reforms to Fix It
Multimedia
· Watch – Rachel Libert, 2006. Beyond Conviction. The Cinema Guild
· Recommended – Amita Swadhin, “Transforming Family,” Beyond Survival (79-88)
Week 13
Monday, November 25
· Read – Barbara Zaitzow, 2004. “Pastel Fascism: Reflections of Social Control Techniques Used with Women in Prison,” Women’s Studies Quarterly
· Myth 19 – We Should Make Our Prisons More Like Those in Norway
Wednesday, November 27
· No Class: Thanksgiving Break
Week 14
Monday, December 2
· Read – Priya Kandaswamy, “Centering Prison Abolition in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies,” Scholar & Feminist Online 13, no. 2 (2016): https://sfonline.barnard.edu/priya-kandaswamy-centering-prison-abolition-in-womens-gender-and-sexuality-studies
· Myth 20 – Prisons are the Only Logical and Evident Way to Address Violent Crime
Wednesday, December 4
· Read – Keri Blakinger, 2019. “Can We Build a Better Women’s Prison?” Washington Post Magazine, https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2019/10/28/prisons-jails-are-designed-men-can-we-build-better-womens-prison
· Read – Joseph Shapiro, 2018. “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women,” National Public Radio, https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/656972806/in-iowa-a-commitment-to-make-prison-work-better-for-women
· Myth 21: Even if Societal and Political Conditions Are to Blame, There’s Nothing We Can Do
Multimedia
· View – Iowa Prison Writing Project, www.pwp.org.uiowa.edu.html
· Recommended – adrienne maree brown, “How We Learned (Are Learning) Transformative Justice,” Beyond Survival (321-324)
Week 15 / 16
Monday, December 11
· Last Day of Class: Teach-In!
Monday, December 18
· Teach-In Project: Reflection Due