Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2022
Document Type
Capstone Project
Degree Name
M.A.
Program
Liberal Studies
Advisor
Justin Rogers-Cooper
Subject Categories
American Studies | Communication Technology and New Media | Critical and Cultural Studies | Digital Humanities | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Performance Studies
Keywords
Abolition, acoustical agency, Black Radical Tradition, sound, queer performance, racial capitalism
Abstract
This capstone project is located at the intersection of Critical Prison Studies, Gender Studies, Sound Studies, and American Studies. It highlights the importance of sonic modes of anti-carceral resistance by featuring the recorded voices of incarcerated people through the creation of a sonic archive of prison writings. By integrating that sonic archive into the podcast medium, this project functions as a digital archive for incarcerated voices, consisting of two tracks: a collection of short-spoken readings by queer and transgender incarcerated authors, and podcast-style interviews with activist scholars, organizations, and sound artists working towards prison abolition. In this paper, I establish my project as a sonic intervention into traditional modes of scholarship production by centering both the works and the voices of queer and trans incarcerated people. Additionally, I explore the operational intersection of voice and performance, and situate the recorded voices of the incarcerated authors as sites of queer performance. Through an analysis that places this project in the context of the Black Radical Tradition within American Studies, I further position the queer performances of the incarcerated authors as important manifestations of Black radical and abolitionist practices.
The project’s website is published on CUNY Manifold: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/queer-and-trans-prison-voices
Recommended Citation
Ziebell, Josefine, "Queer and Trans Prison Voices: A Podcast Archive on Prison Abolition" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4680
Archived website as a WARC file, created using Conifer – web archive player available at https://replayweb.page/
Included in
American Studies Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons