Course Overview

The United States currently incarcerates more of its own citizens than any other country in world history. In fact, prisons are an institution currently central to American life and culture. Prison literature, the literature by and/or about incarcerated people and their families is now mass produced, global, and includes poetry, novels, narratives, political documents, and other genres incorporating many perspectives. It has moved from its origin of writing by a small body of elites with religious underpinnings to a broader corpus of rhetorical and literary significance. In this course, we will read, analyze, write about prison literature as a demonstration and vehicle for civil disobedience and concealed worlds. This interdisciplinary course will trace debates about imprisonment and will explore what it means to be free in America in the present era of mass incarceration. The class may include a community project with Free Minds Write Night, a poetry collaborative.