Freedom inside? : yoga and meditation within the carceral state / Farah Godrej.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Godrej, Farah, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Meditation.

Yoga.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

'Freedom Inside?' offers a combination of personal narrative & scholarly research in order to examine the role of yoga & meditation in US prisons. It offers a glimpse inside the system now known as mass incarceration, which disproportionately punishes, confines, & controls those from black, brown, &/or poor communities at exponentially higher rates, diminishing their life-chances & creating a vast underclass of disempowered, subordinated citizens. How do self-disciplinary practices such as yoga & meditation work when they are taught inside unjust systems? Do they produce political passivity, quietism, & compliance, if offered as palliatives to accept, cope, & comply with unjust power structures? Or, might they prove disruptive to mass incarceration, if offered as tools to develop awareness & attunement toward injustice, to engage in nonconformist responses that include critique & challenge?

Contents:

Introduction. Why prison yoga and meditation?

Who was I? Scholarship, personal narrative, and the testimony of the unprotected

Yoga and meditation. Historical and contemporary debates

The total institution. The world of mass incarceration, prisons, and population control

"Rescued by prison" or "drinking the Kool-Aid?" Practicing while incarcerated

Mindfulness meditation in a men's detention facility

The world of prison volunteers

"Making them better human beings" or "stirring the pot"? Interviews with volunteers

Yogic philosophy, nonviolence, and resistance in a women's prison. With the coauthorship of Reighlen Jordan and Maitra

Conclusion

Methodological appendix.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-007011-0

0-19-007009-9

0-19-007012-9

0-19-007010-2