Experiencing Prison The Experiencing Prison Project

Experiencing Prison The Experiencing Prison Project Wednesday 6th May – Friday 8th May 2015 Dubrovnik, Croatia Call for Presentations: This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference marks the continuation of a project dedicated to the study of the experience of imprisonment. Imprisonment has become the dominant form of punishment in most societies across the world. It may occur prior to trial, or as a result of sentencing by a properly constituted court. Imprisonment without trial or due process occurs in various forms in most societies across the world, mostly sanctioned by the state itself, sometimes used as a political strategy by military, ideological, political or religious groups within a state, or by groups desirous of becoming a state. Incarceration has a long history, and despite its core commonality, it has varied historically, and continues to vary, in different societies all over the world. The prison has become a formidable employer, sometimes the dominant employer in neighbourhoods or towns. Over time, it has also been the site of creativity: prison labour, prison art and prison literature (including poetry, drama and autobiography) has contributed hugely to our understanding both of the phenomenon of imprisonment and also of the impact it has on lives. It can therefore be approached from a variety of experiential perspectives – that of prisoner, employee, volunteer, writer, artist or researcher. We welcome contributions about the experience of incarceration across the entire range of perspectives. Those who have been to prison and have written about the experience, those who have fictionalised the prison experience in art and literature, those who have done paid or voluntary work in prison, and those who have researched the prison of the past and of the present all have something to contribute to our reflections about the prison experience. The range of perspectives includes legal, architectural, criminological, historical, geographical, fictional, psychotherapeutic, artistic, phenomenological, biographical and autobiographical. Contributions are particularly welcomed from former prisoners, detainees, incarcerated asylum seekers, former prisoners of war, political prisoners or those detained because of nationalist, religious or other convictions. All genres and media will be considered, in order to examine the widest possible range of representations, past and contemporary, which communicate the experience and nature of imprisonment. Contributions will be welcome from those who are involved with the architecture and design of prisons, and those who are directly or indirectly involved with the delivery of incarceration, as well as those involved with any prisoners' rights groups or with those who seek to ameliorate incarceration by providing therapeutic drama, literacy, education, counselling, religious support, death row support, and other services. Presentations will also be considered on any related theme. The Steering Group welcomes the submission of proposals for short workshops, practitioner-based activities, performances, and pre-formed panels. We particularly welcome short film screenings, photographic essays, installations, interactive talks and alternative presentation styles that encourage engagement. What to send: 300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 23rd January 2015. All submissions are at least double blind peer reviewed. Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: Prison 6 Proposal Submission. Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, you look for an alternative electronic route or resend. Organising Chairs: Diana Medlicott: diana@inter-disciplinary.net Rob Fisher: ep6@inter-disciplinary.net The conference is part of the Probing the Boundaries programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference. Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. For further details of the conference, please visit: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/experiencing-prison/call-for-papers/