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:

  1. 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)
  2. Organizations in NYC, NY, and the region that are involved with criminal justice/prison issues and work
  3. Bibliographies/reading lists/syllabi from other institutions or workshops that we might come across
  4. Syllabi, lessons, units that might be useful to others
  • Website:  (soon to be created) to post
  1. Events calendar,
  2. The above-mentioned resource list,
  3. 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:

  1. 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
  2. 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)
  3. 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:
  1. We have agreed to discuss a section of Stephanie’s dissertation (this will be emailed shortly) and provide her with constructive feedback.
  2. 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.)
  3. Updates on communications with other DSC groups re. the Ruth Wilson
  4. Gilmore welcome event
  5. 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)