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Penitentiary pleasures: Queer understandings of prison paradoxes

Dr. Elena Vasiliou, Global Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, University of Warwick & University of California Berkeley.

Abstract:
In this article, I advocate for the application of queer theory as a means of deconstructing the binary formation through which pain and pleasure in prison are understood. To do that, I explore how ex-prisoners’ narratives might reveal (queer) moments of pleasure and complement existing criminological scholarship that has neglected such an issue. This exploration is framed by Foucault’s theory of pleasure as a productive force that renders it akin to power: it produces an effect. In this article, I draw on Edelman’s concept of “futurity” and Halberstam’s “failure” to bring criminology and queer theory into a productive dialogue. In my analysis, I use Jackson and Mazzei’s “plugging in” approach centered around the categories of (a) pleasure and pain, (b) pleasure and resistance, and (c) sexuality and pleasure. This article draws data from a broader study of ex-prisoners in Cyprus. This work posits a question about the possibility and productivity of pleasure in conditions of resisting, failing, and suffering. I argue that this framework goes beyond normative criminological approaches to reveal how prison experience is not only a struggle between power and resistance, but a complex nexus which also involves self-destruction and pleasure.