Decarceral, Disabled, and Reparative Futures in Higher Education

Abstract

People with disabilities and those who are formerly/presently incarcerated are often perceived as an “allowable” loss in higher education: Regularly framed as a liability, threat, or detriment to the purported rigor and meritocratic elitism of post-secondary life. While eugenic and carceral logics endeavor to extinguish such bodies and minds from existing, long-standing practices of collective refusal, cross-movement solidarity, and coalition building have persisted despite the aims of K-20 educational spaces to resist otherwise. We present papers and discussions that represent critical analyses examining how researchers and participants in an academic re-entry and higher education in prison program and a department of urban education created life-affirming post-secondary opportunities rooted in decarceration, disability justice, and reparative futures.

Presenters

La Chan Hannon
Director of Teacher Preparation and Innovation; Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Urban Education, Rutgers University Newark, New Jersey, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Colloquium

Theme

Critical Cultural Studies

KEYWORDS

Higher Education, Merit, Education in Prison, Disability Studies, Reparations