Schedule

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)

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)

Wednesday, September 25

• Read – Jason Ross, “Murder at a Midwest School,” Rootstalk 7, no. 2 (2021)

• 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

• Myth 6 – Race Has Nothing to Do With Mass Incarceration

Multimedia

• Watch – Stacey Dooley, Locked Up with the Lifers. BBC Worldwide, 2020:

• 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 –  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,

• Recommended – Lucy Trainor, 2006. “Women’s Prison Activism.” Barnard Center for Research on Women,

• 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

• 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 –  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. “The Four Parts of Accountability & How to Give a Genuine Apology,” Leaving Evidence,

• 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

• Recommended – Nathan Shara, “Facing Shame,” Beyond Survival (221-232)

Week 10

Monday, November 4

• Read –  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 Murderers and Rapists

Multimedia

• View – American Prison Newspaper Archive

• 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)

• 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

• Read – Joseph Shapiro, 2018. “In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women,” National Public Radio,

• Myth 21: Even if Societal and Political Conditions Are to Blame, There’s Nothing We Can Do

Multimedia

• View – Iowa Prison Writing Project

• 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