Taylor Paige Winfield

Women’s incarceration is rising around the world. Yet insufficient data on women’s distinctive experiences behind bars and during reintegration remain a barrier to effective advocacy and policy reform, especially in Africa. Spearheaded by women who were incarcerated in South Africa, this project uses ethnography and participatory arts-based research to address this pressing issue. Building on feminist and decolonial approaches to Gender Transformation, we seek to better understand the intersecting factors that lead to gender inequalities in the carceral system and develop strategies for transformation. As a collaboration between formerly incarcerated women, academics, and Just Detention International-South Africa, we ask: What actionable solutions can we learn from formerly incarcerated women to transform the carceral system in Southern Africa? To answer this question, we will lead art workshops with formerly incarcerated women in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Our transnational research will not only provide much-needed knowledge in the anthropology of prisons on the cumulative inequalities that influence women’s carceral experiences in Africa. It will also reveal how engaged anthropological research can support formerly incarcerated women in contributing to social change by sharing their critical and creative insights with the general public and policymakers.