The Carceral Studies Network site organizes material by topical themes and resource type. These resources are split into two kinds: research and pedagogy. The resources below are a sampling of the latter, and are curated to help instructors more easily find relevant resources for their teaching. On the dedicated Syllabi, Assignments, and Teaching Resources pages, users will find a wide variety of those teaching materials.
These materials have been generously shared by experienced teachers. We ask that you give them credit if you adopt any materials in whole or part.
To share your own teaching resources, for syllabi use this link, for assignments use this link, and for resources about teaching use this link. We regret that we cannot host everything we receive, and new materials may take awhile to appear on the site. We welcome feedback on this organization during the site’s beta period.
Solitary Confinement: A Philosophical Exploration
Lisa Guenther Vanderbilt University Discipline(s): Philosophy Syllabus Last Updated: July, 2016 Undergraduate course in Philosophy exploring the history, ethics, and politics of solitary confinement in the US. Readings include work by Benjamin Rush, Michel Foucault, Jack Henry Abbott, Colin Dayan, Lorna Rhodes, and others. 12 PHIL 213 – Solitary Confinement FINAL SYLLABUS
Prison Literature
Joe Lockard Arizona State University Discipline(s): English Syllabus Last Updated: January, 2014 This course employs a selection of US and world literature to trace prison literature as an integral feature of literary and rhetorical history; as a vehicle for civil disobedience; as exposition of socially concealed worlds; as a site of gender and sexual consciousness; as… Read More »Prison Literature
The American Death Penalty
Daniel LaChance Emory University Discipline(s): History Syllabus Last Updated: September, 2015 This class aims to give students a broad overview of capital punishment in the United States, from 1607 to the present. It pays particular attention to the role that race has played in the representation and administration of the death penalty. It gives equal attention… Read More »The American Death Penalty
Lived Spaces
Lisa Guenther Vanderbilt University Discipline(s): Philosophy Last Updated: September, 2015 Course Level: undergraduate Assignment Summary: Lived space – Everyday elements of Mass Incarceration (Created by Lisa Guenther, Vanderbilt University) If we live in a society that is structured by mass incarceration, then we should be able to see traces of these structures beyond the prison walls,… Read More »Lived Spaces
Blogging about solitary confinement
Matt Whitt Duke University Discipline(s): Philosophy Last Updated: September, 2015 Course Level: undergraduate Assignment Summary: This assignment asks students to think about how we acquire, assess, and convey knowledge about solitary confinement. Learning Outcomes: The assignment explicitly asks students to reflect on the choices that two authors (one with first-hand experience of solitary, one without) make… Read More »Blogging about solitary confinement
Southwest Prison Writing
Joe Lockard Arizona State University Discipline(s): English Last Updated: January, 2014 Course Level: undergraduate Assignment Summary: Comparison paper on Jimmy Santiago Baca and Ken Lamberton. Learning Outcomes: Comparison of prison writings english345paper4assignment
Speaking of whiteness
compromise as a purposeful pedagogical strategy toward white students’ learning about race Journal Teaching in Higher Education Laurel Puchner Donyell L. Roseboro May, 2011 This article discusses pedagogical issues that arise in higher education when instructors of color teach classes with predominantly white students. We use student interview data collected during one graduate social foundations… Read More »Speaking of whiteness
Other People’s Problems
Student Distancing, Epistemic Responsibility, and Injustice Studies in Philosophy and Education Matt S. Whitt June, 2015 In classes that examine entrenched injustices like sexism or racism, students sometimes use “distancing strategies” to dissociate themselves from the injustice being studied. Education researchers argue that distancing is a mechanism through which students, especially students of apparent privilege,… Read More »Other People’s Problems
Fighting Imperviousness With Vulnerability
Teaching in a Climate of Conservatism Teaching Philosophy Jeanine Weekes Schroer June, 2007 This essay explores challenges that arise for professors who teach critical theory in our current climate of conservatism. Specifically, it is argued that the conservative commitments to non-revolutionary change and reverence for tradition are corrupted in our current political and intellectual climate.… Read More »Fighting Imperviousness With Vulnerability