Dear Bill,
 
I think the image of "enabling" is a powerful one.  I am curious to learn how others enable the sharing of inmates' stories, writing, work. 
 
I remember a few years ago meeting Wally Lamb and 3 of his co-authors Robin Cullen, Nancy Whiteley, and Tabatha Rowley all contributors to the book Couldn't Keep it to Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters.  All 3 women were no longer imprisoned and were touring the country with Wally to share their stories and promote the book.  Robin and I began dialoguing, and I arranged for her along with other co-authors of the book to speak at Harvard  (I was a member of the Harvard Prison Education Project at the time).  It's the only time I know that Harvard actually paid a small stipend for speakers.  Harvard typically doesn't pay it's speakers (or at least that was what I was told).  Speaking at Harvard is supposed to be honor enough--that's a whole other discussion.  Anyway, after the women read and shared their stories an incredibly powerful discussion ensued.  You see none of these women fit the stereotype of a female inmate--whatever that stereotype that might be.  One audience member even remarked that the power in the women's words was really re-enforced by seeing her personally read it.  
 
A few years earlier, I had participated in a reading that was later taped for NPR.  A group of  of us read stories from our student-inmates who were still incarcerated.  I found both experiences powerful in their own rights, but not without their complications in terms of planning and logistics, so I am curious  to hear how others have publicly shared the work of inmates and managed to involve imates in the sharing of their own work.    
 
Best,
 
Dominique
________________________________

From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of William R Muth/FS/VCU
Sent: Mon 2/12/2007 10:52 AM
To: The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 482] Re: Bars, Boundaries, and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces



Dominique, 
As a person also interested in listening to the voices of incarcerated literacy learners, I am thankful to you and this listserv for establishing a supportive place to pursue this interest. This is self-serving, of course, but when I share 'stories' of incarcerated men and women (from my past teaching or current studies), I try to think of it not as 'I am telling' their story, but rather as 'I am enabling' their stories (a) to be constructed by the learners (who often, otherwise, have no spaces in which to create their biographies), (b) to be heard and validated (another rare event in prison), and (c) to be shared (in a public discourse that is otherwise shaped by a deadly language of corporate accountability). 
    
For me, the introspection (and, yes, doubt) happens most during the actual conversations with the learners: When is my interest an act of trespassing rather than support? But I recognize the ongoing need to examine my motives for doing this work at all. Now that I am in a publish-or perish mode, this can be come a slippery slope, indeed. 

Again, thank you (and Daphne) for allowing this conversation to happen. 
Bill Muth 
Virginia Commonwealth University  




"Chlup, Dominique" <dchlup at tamu.edu> 
Sent by: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov 

02/12/2007 01:13 AM 
Please respond to
"The Poverty, Race,        Women and Literacy Discussion List" <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>


To
"The Poverty, Race,        Women and Literacy Discussion List" <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov> 
cc
Subject
[PovertyRaceWomen 479] Re: Bars, Boundaries,        and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces	

		




First, I have to admit that I have been a "lurker" on this discussion list for quite sometime.  In all of my time lurking I think I have posted twice, so when Daphne asked me to consider being a guest facilitator I have to admit that I was excited but also a bit leery of leaving behind the safety net of reading others' postings and becoming actively involved in the discussion.  I see this, though, as my risk for the week, so I want to invite all of the other "lurkers" along with the regular posters on the list to feel free to post this week.  I welcome the opportunity to dialogue with everyone.

Now onto the discussion...

When colleagues ask me about my work and the challenges I face researching women student-inmates, one of the first things I reveal to them is how I struggle with the barrier of writing about topics and women who live lives that are far removed from my day to day life.  I am the one with perceived authority, access, and the privilege of going "home" at night, and I try never to forget that.  

When I first entered a prison classroom, I naively expected to find women who were very different from me, but they weren't.  Yes, their institutionalized lives were different from mine, but I was immediately struck by how my students could easily have been my mother, sister, grandmother, best friend, or me.  It didn't take long for me to realize that prison spaces demonstrate a convergence of disadvantage based on racial, class, and gender inequality.  All of the women I have ever had the privilege of working with were arrested for offenses associated with problems of addiction, poverty, and domestic abuse. Whatever preconceptions I had of women prisoners, I quickly realized were misconceptions based largely on stereotypes and misinformation.  I now believe that in the name of maintaining dominant social order, certain resources and privileges are concentrated in some groups, which marginalize and criminalize others.  

Many of the stories I have researched, witnessed, and heard over the years regarding the treatment of women inmates, offend my democratic sensibilities.  I have cried, laughed, dreamed, and hoped with my students (both the ones that I have actually had in class and those whom I have only researched in the prison archives).  I have been rendered speechless when accosted by individuals who don't understand why I have chosen to do the work that I do.  One woman, whom I struck up a conversation with on a very long line for the bathroom at a wedding remarked, "I hope my taxpayer money isn't going to pay for that education program."  

I informed her that for the most part the prisoners were raising the money to keep classes going.  The education programs had been the first thing cut when prison budget restructuring had occurred.  "Good" was all she said before getting off the line and walking away from me.  I still struggle with the challenge of facing critics and what to say to them.  I also struggle with the objectives of "giving voice to the voiceless," "sharing untold stories," and "portraying prison life."  While these objectives, decidedly feminist ones, are in keeping with why I began this work, I am not sure they should be the reasons that keep me invested in this work.  I question:  Who am I to be telling these women's stories?  What right do I have?  What right do any of us have if we are not women prisoners ourselves?  

I have begun this discussion by sharing a bit of my story from the social context of working with women inmates.  I hope you will feel free to respond to any of the points or issues I have raised.  But I also wonder about the struggles and challenges each of you face either researching or working in women's spaces.  What would you describe as the biggest barrier or boundary you face in your work?  How do you deal with these bars, boundaries, and barriers?


--Dominique


Dominique T. Chlup
Director of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning  (TCALL) &
Assistant Professor of Adult Education
Texas A&M University 
www-tcall.tamu.edu

________________________________

From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Fri 2/9/2007 2:52 PM
To: Women and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty Race
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 468] Bars, Boundaries,and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces



Reminder about Guest Facilitator:
(please invite friends and colleagues to join by telling them to
subscribe, and later unsubscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen )

Starting this Monday, Feb. 12th and continuing through Friday Feb.
16th, Dominique Chlup will be facilitating a discussion on:

Bars, Boundaries, and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces

If you have time and are interested, I highly recommend that you check
out the following links where you can find two examples of Dominique's
writings. The articles are not long, and I think that you will find them
interesting and full of thought provoking ideas:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=828
and
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=826

In case you want to know more about our guest facilitator, here is a
short blurb about her:

Dominique Chlup is an assistant professor of adult education and the
director of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and
Learning (TCALL) at Texas A&M University.She got her "calling" to be
an
adult educator after volunteering for a year at the Valhalla Women's
Jail in New York. She taught in the "Right to Write" program.  While
her
career has taken her into several other adult classrooms, she finds
she
returns again and again to her work with women student-inmates.  She
wrote a
dissertation on the history of the educational programs and practices
at
the Framingham Reformatory for Women in Massachusetts, and she
continues
to research contemporary prison programs.  As a part of her research
with women inmates, she has encountered both literal and figurative
bars.  As such, she is always interested in dialoging with others
about
their own experiences researching and working in women's spaces.  To
learn more about her work, you can read

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=828
and
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=826

Please invite your friends and colleagues to join us during this
"discussion." If they want to temporarily join us, they can subscribe
and then later unsubscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

Daphne



Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

Daphne Greenberg
Associate Director
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3977
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3977
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu
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