Bloomsbury Prison Writing of Latin America

What happens inside Latin American prisons? How does the social organisation of prisoners relate to the political structures beyond the walls? Is it possible to resist corrupt penal regimes? In Prison Writing of Latin America, Joey Whitfield turns to those best placed to answer these questions: people who have been imprisoned themselves. Drawing on a century of material produced by Latin American prisoners from Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, Whitfield weaves readings of novels, memoirs and testimonial texts with social and political analysis. Rather than distinguishing between dictatorial and democratic periods of government, he shows that from the point of view of the prisoner, all states are authoritarian in nature. In the face of oppression, however, prisoners both political and criminal have found ways not only to resist but also to create alternative communities both real and imagined, sometimes in collaboration with each other. Review Highly original in terms of its subject matter and displaying evidence of extensive research, Prison Writing of Latin America engages thoughtfully and intelligently with primary and secondary materials in order to develop a substantial contribution to our understanding of prison culture and Latin-American culture. The book offers both a theoretical reflection around notions of penality and a specific study of literary and artistic representations of prison culture in a modern Latin-American context. It is very effective on both levels. It includes a nuanced and highly reflective internal debate about ways of thinking about prison, punishment, resistance and the state. The corpus is varied and helps unfold a broad-ranging and complex set of considerations about state punishment that is sensitive to ambiguity and contradiction while maintaining a kind of committed ethical thrust. An extremely valuable book.Philip Swanson, Hughes Professor of Spanish, University of Sheffield, UKWith this poignant book, Whitfield opens the gate to Latin-American prison writers for an English-speaking audience. Their creative writings are a testimony of persistent penal violence that reinforces class, race and gender hierarchies. A book that must be read by anyone concerned with criticism of the Penal State and alternative paths toward social justice in the continent.R. Aída Hernández Castillo, Professor and Senior Researcher, Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS), Mexico, and author of Multiple InJustices: Indigenous Women, Law and Political Struggle (2016) About the Author Joey Whitfield is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.