Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Apr 2019 Open Access

More than Transformative: A New View of Prison Writing Narratives

Larry Barrett ; Pablo Mendoza ; Logan Middleton ; Mario Rubio ; Thomas Stromblad

Abstract

Common in higher education in prison (HEP) and writing studies research is the idea that writing and education are transformative for incarcerated populations. While we believe that both can be powerful tools for reflection and social change among people on the inside, the prevalence of such transformation narratives can contribute to stereotypical depictions or understandings of incarcerated people and their literacy practices. Drawing upon our experiences with the Education Justice Project (EJP), a college-in-prison program, this article argues for expanded recognition and study of literacy practices, genres, and prison education beyond those typically discussed in HEP and writing studies scholarship. In doing so, we draw on the work of Martinez (2017) to present four personal scenes of writing and education as counterstories that intervene in master narratives about how incarcerated students are transformed by literacy. This approach not only grounds our work in methodology that values the lived and experiential knowledge of marginalized people but also enables us to push back against stock stories of prison writing that might inadvertently stereotype incarcerated students. Through telling our stories in this article, we call on academics to join us in composing different stories about incarcerated students that honor the complexities of our multiple identities and literacy practices.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2019-04-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv19i1pp13-32
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Open Access
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Topics
genre theory literacy studies community literacy
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