Title:
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Subordinate kinship : families living with incarceration
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This thesis explores the relationships and kinship practices of women, in the North of
England who have a husband or partner in prison. In particular it focuses on how
kinship in the context of incarceration is subordinate. The study is addressed from the
perspective of the mothers of prisoners' children who are the wives and partners of
prisoners. The study derives from qualitative ethnographic research which was
undertaken between May 2004 and September 2005. During this time participant
observations at the Visitors' Centres of a category B male local prison and a High
Security Estate prison were conducted as a means of gaining valuable insights into
the way in which the rules and regulations of the prison establishment govern the
different forms of contact between prisoners and their families. This was supported
by unstructured in-depth interviews with eleven women who were the wives or
partners of male prisoners with the aim of collecting more detailed biographical case
study data, focusing on their experiences.
The issues which this thesis addresses and which derived from the research data
collected were questions concerning what is the relationship between the family and
the prison; how the tensions between exacting justice and the families welfare impact
on health and well-being of mothers and their perception of the impact on their
children, the effect of incarceration on kinship practices, and the extent to which
incarceration influences the lives of these women beyond the institutional setting,
with emphasis placed on their relationships and social networks.
The theoretical focus of the study is orientated towards a contextualisation of the
family and the use of imprisonment in both a contemporary and historical context,
drawing, in particular, on the work of Foucault and his ideas concerning discipline
and surveillance. The themes used revolve around, experiences of separation, notions
of exchange and gift giving, ideas of the Visitors' Centre as a liminal space, secondary prisonization, and stigma. The conclusions drawn bring these ideas
together to show how 'a subordinate kinship' is manifest in this context.
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