Sex, Gender, and the Carceral State

2016 Women’s History Month Symposium

Cabral Center
March 18, 2016

Sponsored by the WGSS program, the Forum on Feminist Thought, the Northeastern Humanities Center, the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the Humanities Center Collaborative Research Cluster on Sex, Gender, and the Carceral

Co-sponsored by the School of Law and the Departments of English, History, Philosophy & Religion, and Sociology & Anthropology

View the full program for the event here.

  • Prof. Serena Parekh
  • Panelist Jason Lydon (Black & Pink) speaks
  • Prof. Moya Bailey listens to a panel
Photos by Jarvis Chen.

The growth of the U.S. penal system and its consequences, including mass incarceration, has generated scholarship and activism analyzing the rise of the carceral state. Sex, Gender, and the Carceral State is a one-day conference that explores the relationship between feminist and queer activism and scholarship as it challenges, or, is perhaps complicit with, the logics that support an increased reliance on criminal laws, policing, and surveillance. This conference will provide an opportunity for scholars and activists to discuss a range of critical issues, including:

  • How have feminists and queer activists and scholars challenged or reproduced the ideas that support the increased use of criminal law?
  • What are the lived experiences of individuals in prisons or prison like conditions?
  • How does carcerality expand outside of the formal penal system and into broader forms of social control?
  • How are ideas and practices exported by the United States?
  • What are alternatives to the carceral state?
  • What is the role of race, class, and gender in shaping scholarship, activism, and people’s lived experiences of the carceral state?
  • Program Director Suzanna Walters welcomes panelists to the Symposium
  • Panelists Jason Lydon (Black & Pink) and Chase Strangio (ACLU)
  • Program Director Suzanna Walters and former WGSS visiting scholar Juli Grigsby at the post-event reception
Photos by Jarvis Chen.
  • A student participates in the symposium
  • Panelist Fred Ginyard (FIERCE)
  • Former WGSS visiting scholar Juli Grigsby returns to campus to attend the symposium
Photos by Jarvis Chen.

The day-long event will feature academic and activist speakers from Northeastern University and beyond, including: Mimi Kim (California State University, Long Beach), Jessica Pliley (Texas State University), Allegra McLeod (Georgetown University), Frederick Ginyard (FIERCE), Monica Jones (Activist and Advocate), Shannon Erwin (Muslim Justice League), Gabriel Arkles (Northeastern University), Amahl Bishara (Tufts University), Jill McCorkel (Villanova University), Jason Lydon (Black & Pink), Chase Strangio (ACLU LGBT & HIV Project) and Andrea Ritchie (Soros Justice Fellow). Panels include: History and Context, Profiling and Incarceration, Social Movements and Alternatives, and a concluding roundtable conversation. The day will also feature an activist table at lunch.

  • An audience members takes in a panel at Sex, Gender, and the Carceral State
  • Program Director Suzanna Walters listens
  • Prof. Sarah J. Jackson moderates a panel
Photos by Jarvis Chen.