For my profile, I’m planning to write about Laura Barraclough, a K College professor in the anthropology and sociology department. Though originally from California, the state perceived to be setting trends for prison conditions around the country and whose own prison population has grown by over 500 percent since 1982, and raised by a sheriff father, Barraclough herself is a supporter of prison abolition. She teaches a Prisons and Public Policy class at K, worked with students last year to create a documentary about specific prisoners in Kalamazoo, and is currently working on a research project for which she’s conducting interviews with members of the community who seem to find themselves in and out of the system. I’d like to explore the relationship between her upbringing/background and the current work and research she’s doing with prisons. The fact that the prison population in the United States is growing exponentially and that the public’s opinions are generally based off of propaganda (and many haven’t heard of the idea of prison abolition, at least in a serious context) makes the subject of prisons itself all the more relevant today.
Professor Barraclough was out of town at the end of last week, but I have contacted her and am just waiting for her reply to know if she’ll agree to the project. I’m also planning to speak with members of her Prisons class from last quarter, other faculty in her department, and observe her teach some of her class periods this quarter. I know that she also attends meetings for a committee with some relation to the prison system and that she invited students in her class last quarter to go, so I may be able to attend one of these and speak with other people there as well.
I took Barraclough’s Prisons class last quarter, so I know a lot about the state of the prison system in the United States and how it relates to various other factors, of which race and class are the biggest. Therefore, I feel knowledgeable about the subject in such a way that I can write about it as it relates to her life.
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ReplyDeleteI don't know if my old commented posted. it said it did but i'm not seeing it, so i'll try again.
ReplyDeleteI think that she could be a really interesting subject. She is so deeply involved in one cause which really focuses your story. It is also really interesting that her father was a Sheriff and she is now actively involved in prison reform. One thing that seem overwhelming to me is that there are so many different ways she is involved so there is potentially too much story. there are so many different directions you can go combining her involvement, actions and experiences, along with her history, and the political and social aspects of prison reform and the abolishonist movement. It is probably best though to start big and then you can narrow it down to be a story that you are really interested and your potential readers. i look forward to reading your first draft.