Description
This thesis explores the relationship between prison abolition, education, and imagination, and how, together, they can diminish the carceral state. Each chapter focuses on the intersection of at least two of the concepts. After describing the guiding questions and describing the key concepts that will be considered throughout this thesis, Chapter Two considers prison abolition from an aesthetic lens. Drawing on John Dewey’s aesthetic experience and prison abolitionist philosophy, I argue that an aesthetics of incarceration can offer support to the prison abolitionist movement. In Chapter Three, I highlight the similarities between the prison and school to show how carcerality has become enmeshed with education. Relying on reports from the fields of education, criminal justice, and news outlets, I offer these examples as evidence of “the carceral school.” Furthermore, the reach of carcerality into the education domain can be diminished by implementing alternatives to oppressive surveillance, policing in schools, and punitive disciplinary measures. An understanding of the carceral school is a necessary background to Chapter Four, where I argue for the adoption of prison abolitionist philosophy in schools. I compare abolitionism to reformism in order to demonstrate that reformism is an inadequate measure to address carcerality in education. Finally, drawing from the pedagogies of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Bettina L. Love, I call upon all educational stakeholders to implement teaching theories and practices that aim for societal transformation and the abolition of carcerality in education. After highlighting the element of imagination found in these teaching and learning theories, I label these approaches “visionary pedagogies.” The goal of this work is to offer students as well as educators a vision of education without the weight of carcerality.
