Prison Cultures

Reviews / Votes

'Walsh's book doesn't disappoint. [...] Prison Cultures provides an incredibly rich, detailed, and complex performance analysis of women's prisons and imprisonment, and develops an argument for performance as a tool for resistance in carceral settings. [...] [It] shifts the prison theatre discourse in new directions, shunning the typical arguments around efficacy and impact in favour of striking new ground. The book is an ideal source for researchers interested in theatre and performance in the criminal justice system, and for those with a keen interest in penology, cultural and feminist criminology. The provocations presented to the applied theatre in the criminal justice sector should also serve to make this a valuable resource to those studying, and practising, prison theatre.' -- Simon Ruding, New Theatre Quarterly 'This book provides an incisive and innovative analysis of carceral environments that challenges the common sense of prison cultures. Walsh deploys a radical and feminist sensibility to uncover not only how various types of performance strategy perpetuate rigid typologies of women, but also how artistic interventions and theatre representations can fashion alternative and resistive subjectivities.' -- Prof Paul Routledge, Leadership Chair in Contentious Politics and Social Change, University of Leeds 'It is a novel and original contribution to the field, with insightful performance analyses that illuminate the complex ways performance practices function in wider culture, as well as within the context of prisons themselves.' -- Katie Beswick, University of Exeter 'Prison Cultures offers a multilayered and complex account of how justice is staged and experienced by women in prison and how such experiences are subsequently mediated in contemporary culture. Drawing on a range of examples and disciplines and committed to a feminist perspective, Aylwyn Walsh makes a compelling case for performance's function as a tool of resistance to carceral and patriarchal logics, imaginaries and practices against women in and out of prisons. This is an important source for anyone with an interest in performance and the criminal justice system specifically, but also, more broadly for anyone with a concern about the role of performance against regimes of power that perpetuate marginalization, racism and gender-violence. A timely intervention.' -- Dr Marilena Zaroulia, University of Winchester