Cultural Politics of Prison Towns: A Conversation

The Anthropology Department, co-sponsored by PARCC, the Balkan Studies Collective, the Meredith Professorship Funds, and the Sociology Department, will host Kristin Doughty, Catherine Besteman, Josh Dubler and Precious Bedell to discuss their initiatives and research on the abolitionist history of imprisonment and the cultural politics of prison towns, specifically in Upstate New York and Maine. The panel will be moderated by SU’s Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology.

Kristin Doughty is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester and the director of campus and community engagement for the Rochester Education Justice Initiative.

Catherine Besteman is the Francis F. Bartlett and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College.

Josh Dubler is an associate professor of religion at the University of Rochester and the director of the Rochester Education Justice Initiative.

Precious Bedell is the assistant director of community outreach for the Rochester Education Justice Initiative and a long-time abolitionist activist in the city of Rochester.