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Upcoming Meeting: Friday, April 9th
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Next Meeting of the Prison Studies Group:
Friday, April 9, 2010
GC Room 5489
3:45pm
Minutes 4/9
Friday, May 7, 2010
April 9, 2010
(In attendance: Jeff, Karen, Stephanie, Carla, Owen, Calvin, Jodie, Neil, Logan,
Charlotte, guest: Father Richard Gorman)
NEXT MEETING: May 7, 3:45pm (GC 5489)
Send your ideas/suggestions for the agenda (we decided not to do a
reading as it is a busy time of semester). Tentatively, Calvin has
offered to do a presentation on his paper for a Race and Ethnicity
course.
UPDATES:
• Listserv:
o Jeff will be the contact person
• Website (see “Committees” section later):
o opencuny.org/prisonstudiesgroup
o The site is basic right now, but a group of interested individuals
will be working on jazzing it up and making it more user friendly
o Interested individual group members can add content — you can set
up your account on OpenCUNY.org and create user name and email Jeff so
that he can grant you access.
o The suggestion was made to add “juvenile to justice” to the
subheading on the website
• Ruth Gilmore Welcome Event: Owen brought it to Space-Time Research
Collective. They know the Prison Studies Group is interested, but as
of yet there is nothing in motion. Owen will let us know when there is
new/more information.
NEWS:
• UPCOMING EVENT: Tuesday, April 13, 4-6pm — “Coming Home” (Michelle
Fine) in Psychology [more info forthcoming]
• UPCOMING EVENT: Wednesday, April 14, 5:30-7:30 — Open Society
Institute hosts a book talk on “Texas Tough” [for more info:
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/usprograms/focus/justice/events/texas-tough-20100329]
• UPCOMING EVENT: Friday, April 30, 12:30-5:30pm – Professional
Development in the Political Science Dept. (academic careers, job
search, non-academic careers) [more info forthcoming]
• The group wondered how Ervin’s presentation went the other week?
• Owen will be attending the conference of American Association of
Geographers in Washington, DC and will let us know about any criminal
justice talks/events/info he finds.
• Logan attended the book talk given by Yale English professor Caleb
Smith at Hunter College several weeks ago on his new book, Prison and
the American Imagination. Smith sounded interested in the Prison
Studies Group and willing to give a book talk and/or lead a discussion
of the reading with our group. Logan will follow up.
• Introducing Neil’s Guest/Friend: Father Richard Gorman: Father
Gorman is Chair of Community Board 12 and has been given a new role in
the Archdiocese of overseeing outreach to state prisons and city jails—
prison ministry. Father Gorman expressed interest in learning from the
group and networking with group members to expand prison ministry and
visiting services. He noted that the state is looking to cutback on
funding to prison ministry (of all faiths). He also mentioned an
interest in expanding lay participation in the visiting and ministry
services.
• Teaching: several members brought up the idea of having the group
think about/discuss/serve as a resource for teaching about the prison
and criminal/juvenile justice system by collecting/sharing syllabi,
lessons and readings.
COMMITTEES: Please email Logan within the next week or so if you are
interested in joining any of the following committees (Some group
members expressed their interests at the meeting.). Logan will compile
those emails so that committee members may begin communicating among
themselves and begin organizing. Committees may revise or redefine
their responsibilities – what follows are initial ideas:
• Grants Committee (to brainstorm proposals for the DSC’s Cultural
Affairs and Professional Development grants): Neil, Charlotte (?)
• Web: Calvin, Jeff
• Readings Committee (to collect suggestions for group readings; to
write/collect blurbs on suggested readings; to survey members about
preferences; to schedule readings): Carla, Owen, Charlotte
o Note: two additional reading suggestions (and there are others from
last meeting: Beyond Prisons, by Laura Magnani (domestic issues around
prisons; good for teaching undergrads); Prison and the American
Imagination, by Caleb Smith
• Technology/Web (to manage/update website): Calvin, Jeff
• Resource List/Bibliography (to explore different options for
organizing a resource list/bibliography [end note/zotero? annotated?
Word file vs. online text])
• Committees will form to plan for specific events; but we will make
available on the website a “how to/DIY” section for how to schedule a
room, etc.
DISCUSSION OF READING: The group discussed Stephanie’s piece on women
incarcerated on drug trafficking charges in a Lima prison and the
links to globalization. Lots of interesting questions and ideas. More
specific notes have been sent to Stephanie for her use.
Minutes 3/5/2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
I. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mark Your Calendar For Upcoming Events
- TODAY, Saturday, March 6, 2010 2pm:
Book reading and signing: The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Urban
America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad at the Hue-Man Bookstore & Café
–2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd (Between 124th and 125th Streets)
- March 19, 2010 (evening – more info forthcoming):
Ervin will be presenting his MA thesis on the prison and criminal justice
implications of the Thirteenth Amendment at a GC History Department
conference.
- Next Meeting of the Prison Studies Group:
Friday, April 9, 2010 (GC, Room 5489), 3:45pm
II. MINUTES FROM THE FIRST MEETING (3/5)
- Brainstorming:
What would you like for the Prison Studies Group to do?
How can the group support your interests and work and encourage the
study of criminal justice and prison issues?
- Listserv:
Using the listserv to share upcoming events related to
criminal justice/prison issues, meetings etc.
- Bibliography/Resource List:
Maintaining a working database that might include:
- Bibliography of books, films, articles, etc. (this might be annotated and/or built using bibliographic software such as Zotero or Endnote so it could be a more searchable database)
- Organizations in NYC, NY, and the region that are involved with criminal justice/prison issues and work
- Bibliographies/reading lists/syllabi from other institutions or workshops that we might come across
- Syllabi, lessons, units that might be useful to others
- Website: (soon to be created) to post
- Events calendar,
- The above-mentioned resource list,
- Member bio list (the information provided would be at each individual member’s discretion, but might include research and professional interests or networking interests)
- Events:
Speakers, film screenings. Some initial suggestions are as follows:
- The suggestion was made to collaborate with the Space Time DSC organization (Streac) in welcoming Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore who will be joining the GC Geography faculty in the fall of 2010 with a reading/discussion of her work. For more on Gilmore and her work:http://college.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1003281 http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gulag-Opposition-Globalizing-California/dp/0520242017/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1
- The suggestion was made to look into inviting Khalil Gibran Muhammad of the University of Indiana. (see today’s event for more info on his work)
- Someone who could not attend the meeting has a connection to Colin Dayan at Vanderbilt and suggested that we look into inviting Professor Dayan to speak. “The Story of Cruel and Unusual” (http://colindayan.com).
- Group Trips/Outings:
One suggestion made was to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, one of the earliest penitentiaries in
the United States http://www.easternstate.org/
- Peer Review/Support:
The suggestion was made that the group be a space for members to share their work/research and receive feedback,
to practice giving presentations, etc. (see plan for next meeting)
- Reading Group:
Many members seemed interested in an ongoing reading group to discuss an agreed upon piece (scholarly work, peer work).
Suggestions for future readings included:
o Foucault, Discipline and Punish
o Foucault, Security, Territory, Population (selected lectures)
o Thomas Dumm’s Democracy and Punishment
o Adam Hirsch’s Rise of the Penitentiary
o Lee Wood’s Prison Slavery
- Grants!!
The DSC is offering up to $700 for each of these grants. Let’s keep these in mind as we consider what the group might want to
pursue this semester:
http://www.cunydsc.org/cultural-affairs-grants
http://www.cunydsc.org/professional-development-grants
III. Next Steps and Next Meeting
Next Meeting — 3:45pm-5:15(? Or 5:45?) Friday, April 9; GC 5489
Note: We decided we did not necessarily need to set all future meeting dates/times. The suggestion was made that we meet roughly once a month. We will use SurveyMonkey to poll members as to the best day/ time for meetings, with the understanding that it will be difficult to accommodate everyone’s schedule.
- Tentative Items for the Agenda:
- We have agreed to discuss a section of Stephanie’s dissertation (this will be emailed shortly) and provide her with constructive feedback.
- We will decide on the next reading (see suggestions above. If you have other ideas, be sure to email out that information so individuals can look them up.)
- Updates on communications with other DSC groups re. the Ruth Wilson
- Gilmore welcome event
- Update on the website: Jeff and Calvin have generously volunteered to get the website up and running by the next meeting (using the OpenCUNY space)