Project description
A queer analysis of self-harming in prison
Rates of self-harm are high among prisoners. Previous research has explored ex-prisoners’ paradoxical accounts of pleasure in combination with pain and suffering in prison. It has also focused on how factors such as gender and sexuality relate to the persistent problem of self-harming. The EU-funded Prison Self-harm project will approach the issue within the framework of Queer Criminology (QC), which focuses on the intersections among gender, sexuality, and the criminal justice system. The project will define the self-harming problem in European prisons and design and implement a QC methodological tool for research with ex-prisoners concerning their experience. The project will also publish a brief policy document addressing self-harming issues, including gender and sexuality topics.
Objective
This proposal deals with the persistent problem of self-harm in prisons and addresses limitations of mainstream approaches by outlining a theoretical approach informed by Queer Studies. This project aims to offer a queer interpretation of these phenomena through a more holistic, less pathologizing frame of understanding self-harming experiences in prison settings. My research so far (Vasiliou, 2020) has examined the paradox of pleasure in ex-prisoners’ accounts of pain and suffering in prison and has attempted to engage issues of gender and sexuality in considering narratives of pain/pleasure, agency and resistance. These findings are the base for this training and research proposal which will focus specifically on understanding the problem of self-harm in prisons from a Queer Criminology (QC) perspective. The project is divided in three phases: First, during the outgoing phase, I will train for 5 months with a prominent expert in the emerging field of Queer Criminology in Australia (Dr Matthew Ball) and, second I will work with Dr Eric Stanley in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies of the University of California (19 months). In the return phase, I will work for 12 months in the department of Sociology in the University of Warwick with an outstanding expert on the issue of women’s self-harming in prison settings (Dr Anastasia Chamberlen). The aims of the project are: 1) training in QC Theory and Methodology 2) To outline the scene in relation to self-harming issues in European prison settings. 3) To design and apply a QS methodological tool for conducting research with self-harming individuals in ex-prisoners population. 4) To conduct research with ex-prisoners about experiences of self-harming at the return phase in the UK. 5) To publish a brief policy document in which issues of self harming will be addressed from a holistic perspective with a particular interest about issues of gender and sexuality. This project will make an important empirical and theoretical contribution to the issues of self-harming in prison settings and will contribute to the development of the field of QC in Europe.
Fields of science
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
United Kingdom