Space, Time, Embodiment

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents the theoretical framework of the study. In this book, the prison and the experience of imprisonment are analysed using space, time and embodiment as key concepts. The study adopts a phenomenological and pragmatist perspective, drawing on the notion of inhabiting. The chapter argues that this analytical approach provides a unique and fruitful perspective on the prison and the subjective experience of incarceration. First, it allows us to understand the prison not as a space in the sense of a (pre-defined) container, but as a formally established set of arrangements of space and time that are lived. Second, the concept of inhabiting enables us to refocus the lens of prison studies away from the often-applied framework of power and resistance and, instead, to explore prisoners’ embodied, agentic and practical engagement with imprisonment.