Critical Storytelling from Behind Invisible Bars

Undergraduates and Inmates Write Their Way Out
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-44163-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 4, 196 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 446 g

Reihe: Critical Storytelling

Critical stories are narratives that recount the writer’s experiences, situating those experiences in broader cultural contexts. In this volume of Critical Storytelling, marginalized, excluded, and oppressed peoples share insights from their liminality to help readers learn from their perspectives on living from behind invisible bars. Female inmates at Decatur’s Correctional Center and the undergraduate Millikin University students who worked with them come together to give voice to their specific histories of living from behind invisibile bars and pose important questions to the reader about inciting change for the future. Specifically, the voices in this volume seek to expose, analyze, and challenge deeply-entrenched narratives and characterizations of incarcerated women, whose histories are often marked by sexual abuse, domestic violence, poverty, PTSD, a lack of education, housing insecurity, mental illness, and substance addiction. These silenced female inmate voices need to be heard and contextualized within the larger metanarrative of prison literature. Through telling critical stories, these writers attempt to: sustain recovery from trauma, make positive changes and informed decisions, create a real sense of empowerment, strengthen their capacity to exercise personal agency, and inspire audiences to create change far outside the reaches of physical and metaphorical bars.

Contributors are: Anonymous, Soren Belle, Megan Batty, Dwight G. Brown, Jr., Sandra Brown, Kathryn Coffey, Kelly Cunningham, Paiten Hamilton, Kathlyn J. Housh, Rebekah Icenesse, Kala Keller, Jelisa Lovette, Bric Martin, Amanda Minetti, Laura Nearing, Angie Oaks, Claire Prendergast, Cara Quiett, J. M. Spence, Noah Villarreal and Alisha Walker.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Braniger, Carmella J.

Miller, Alex V.

Coffey, Kathryn A.

Icenesse, Rebekah M.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Affektive, soziale und ethische Ziele in der Erziehung
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Universitäten, Hochschulen
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Teildisziplinen der Pädagogik Erwachsenenbildung, lebenslanges Lernen
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Berufliche Bildung Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten, Studientechnik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Notes on Contributors

Prologue

Alex V. Miller

1 A Prisoner’s Melody

Sandra Brown, Jelissa Lovette and Alisha Walker

2 Barcode

Sandra Brown

3 Caged

Jelissa Lovette

4 The Forbidden & the Prohibited

Soren Belle

5 Truth or Dare

Sandra Brown

6 The People I Met When the Sky Went Dark

Bric Martin

7 The Great Wall of Insanity

J. M. Spence

8 State of Mind

Jelissa Lovette

9 The Call

Sandra Brown

10 Pivotal Times

Angie Oakes

11 A Daughter’s Sorrow

Sandra Brown

12 Talking It out from the Inside

Cara Quiett

13 Mother-Less Child

Jelissa Lovette

14 Not Waving, Not Drowning

Sandra Brown

15 Isaac

Claire Prendergast

16 Prison

Angie Oaks

17 Love Find Me

Jelissa Lovette

18 Little Girl Lost

Angie Oakes

19 Everlasting Kiss

Jelissa Lovette

20 Backburner Bitch

Anonymous

21 Love Alive

Kala Keller

22 My Dragonfly

Laura Neering

23 Puzzle Pieces in My Eyes

Rebekah M. Icenesse

24 Piece of Me

Jelissa Lovette

25 Nothing New under the Sun

Sandra Brown

26 Living a Life with Invisible Bars

Kathlyn J. Housh

27 Where Would I Be

Jelissa Lovette

28 My Odyssey

Sandra Brown

29 What Makes Straight so Great?

Dwight G. Brown, Jr.

30 Nature’s Sanctuary

Angie Oakes

31 Nature’s Pride and Promise

Cara Quiett

32 Finding Stability in Motion

Megan Batty

33 Queen of Soul

Jelisa Lovette

34 Melodies & Recipes

Cara Quiett

35 Unanswered Questions

Paiten Hamilton

36 Gregory’s Gift

Sandra Brown

37 Sentimental Syrup

Cara Quiett

38 Perfection: A History of Me & My Multi-Colored Elephants

Kathryn A. Coffey

39 Final Thoughts

Sandra Brown

40 Stopping the Cycle: My Journey with Generational Body Image

Kelly Cunningham

41 My Four Opportunities to Grow Up

Noah Villarreal

42 My Last Bow

Amanda Minetti

43 The Eulogy

Sandra Brown

44 Yoga Me Free

Cara Quiett

45 Metamorphosis

Sandra Brown

Epilogue

Carmella J. Braniger, Rebekah M. Icenesse, Kathryn A. Coffey and Alex V. Miller

Über Autor(innen)

Carmella J. Braniger, Ph.D. (2003), Oklahoma State University, is Associate Professor of English at Millikin University. She has published poems and critical stories, including a story in Critical Storytelling in Uncritical Times (Sense, 2017), for which she served as editor.

Kathryn Coffey is an undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published on the Decaturian and BURST. She also has work published in Collage (Fall 2019).

Rebekah Icenesse is an English Writing undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published in BURST, and the Decaturian, where she serves as an editor.

Alex V. Miller is a Professor at Millikin University where he teaches all levels of acting and stage combat, serves as Coordinator of Performance, Mainstage Director, Resident Fight Director, and is founder of and Executive Director for Shakespeare Corrected. Though his professional performance career has taken him from coast to coast, he currently lives on a small farm in Hammond, IL with his wife and two children.