This event was held on October 14th, 2011 as part of the American Cultures Spotlight Series
In recent years, it has become clear that state divestment from public education and the growing scope and violence of the U.S. prison regime are interconnected, fundamental barriers to a genuinely healthy and free society. This mini-conference will explore different ways that people teach from abolitionist perspectives and make connections between current political struggles over the restructuring of public education and struggles against the prison industrial complex.
This event was organized as a partnership between the American Cultures Center, the Center for Race and Gender, Critical Resistance, Critical Prison Studies Caucus of the American Studies Association, and faculty in the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Mills College.
This event included a keynote address by Erica Meiners, Northwestern Illinois University, a Panel discussion entitled: Teaching(in) the Prison Industrial Complex, and breakout sessions on abolitionist research and activism.