Living Academic Research
Dr. Breea Chaunte Willingham
“What Good Would A College Degree Do For These Women?:”
The Politics And Paradox Of Teaching Higher Education In Women’s Prisons
Dr. Breea Chaunte Willingham
Title: Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice Program at SUNY Plattsburgh Research Topic: “What Good Would A College Degree Do For These Women?:” The Politics And Paradox Of Teaching Higher Education In Women’s Prisons Institution: Buffalo, State University of New York Committee Chair: Dr. Carl Nightingale Abstract: The instructors I interviewed for this study are among the pioneers in a revitalization of prison education during a period in which it has suffered one of its greatest setbacks – the government pulling out of the prison education business. They develop and teach their courses with little to no pedagogical support or training, and at a great personal cost for some. |
BioDr. Breea Willingham is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Plattsburgh State University of New York. Her research areas include women’s prison writing, higher education in prison, Black women and police violence, the impact of incarceration on Black fathers and their children, and race and crime. Dr. Willingham worked as a newspaper reporter covering crime and education for 10 years before entering academia. I am currently writing a book on Black women and police violence.
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ScholarshipAfter spending 10 years covering crime, murder trials and school board meetings, I left journalism in 2005 and went back to school – as a college professor and doctoral student. I graduated in May 2014 with my Ph.D. in American Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo. I taught journalism at St. Bonaventure University, sociology at the State University of New York College at Oneonta. My research areas include higher education in women’s prisons, Black women and police violence,
Black women’s prison writings, the impact of incarceration on Black families,and race and crime. |
AbstractThe instructors I interviewed for this study are among the pioneers in a revitalization of prison education during a period in which it has suffered one of its greatest setbacks – the government pulling out of the prison education business. They develop and teach their courses with little to no pedagogical support or training, and at a great personal cost for some. They deliver a bare-bones yet imaginative education whose benefits suggest that state governments should return to the business of college in-prison programs. This study examines the ways these instructors navigate the politics of teaching in prisons and jails to create safe learning spaces for incarcerated women to challenge the disempowering environment of their confinement. I argue that while teaching in prison may not be an intentional political act, the very location of a prison makes it political. My findings in this qualitative analysis are based on in-depth interviews with professors, community volunteers and formerly incarcerated women who teach in women’s prisons and jails. These instructors must negotiate power relations with prison administration and staff, including navigating their place in the typically male dominated hierarchical power structure of prisons and jails. Critical pedagogy is used as the theoretical framework to analyze the tension between punishment and education that creates the paradox of college-in-prison: the classes promote critical thinking and questioning while prison protocols requires obedience and sanctions imprisoned women when they question authority.
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The Unexpected
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