This article reflects upon four years of exploring Augusto Boal’s Image and Forum Theatre techniques in prisons for youth in upstate New York with young men aged 14-20. These practices work for prisoners by respecting the “literacy” of survival inside prison and by putting prisoners in control of making meaning with their bodies. Examples show the “embodied knowledge” of prisoners as the basis for collaborative, critical deliberations by prisoner communities who use it to re-envision conflict. The “well-contested” site of the body and the definition of “respect” by prisoners are keynotes to this work.
A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric