Why queer methodologies?
Rates of self-harm are high among prisoners. Previous research has explored ex-prisoners’ paradoxical accounts of pleasure in combination with pain and suffering in prison. It has also focused on how factors such as gender and sexuality relate to the persistent problem of self-harming.
This EU-funded prison self-harm project will approach the issue within the framework of Queer Criminology, which focuses on the intersections among gender, sexuality, and the criminal justice system. The project will define the self-harming problem in European prisons and design and implement a queer criminology methodological tool for research with ex-prisoners concerning their experience.
The aims of this
project are:
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Under the supervision of global leaders in the fields of Queer Criminology, Prison Studies, Sociology of punishment, Queer and Sexuality issues, Elena Vasiliou will receive theoretical and methodological training through participation in research groups, seminars and projects that bring together insights from Queer Theory and Criminology. This insight focuses on both understanding the experiences of queer people within the criminal justice system and in using queer theory to understand the prison setting.
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Create a literature and dataset review regarding self-harming issues in European prisons, and review existing guidelines through a Queer Criminology perspective.
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Findings on self-harm which are informed by Queer Criminology and provide a more holistic and less pathologizing understanding of self-harm with a particular attention to the issues of gender, sexuality, resistance, agency and pain/pleasure.
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Establish rapport by volunteering in an ex-prisoners organization in the UK for a period of 3 months, and conduct interviews with 30 ex-prisoners focused on self-harm practices and narratives.
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The policy brief will be shared with stakeholders and networks such as: The European Prison Observatory, and the UK National Forum on Gender and Sexual Diversity Research in Criminal Justice.
People involved
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Dr Elena Vasiliou
Research Fellow & Project Leader
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Dr Anastasia Chamberlen
Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick – Project Supervisor
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Dr Eric Stanley
Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berkeley
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Dr Matthew Ball
Associate Professor Queensland University of Technology – Advisory Committee
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Dr Miranda Christou
Associate Professor in Sociology of Education at the University of Cyprus – Advisory Committee
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Andreas Afgousti
Research Assistant, Education Department University of Cyprus