Sarah Lamble on 'Practicing Everyday Abolition in the Context of Britain's Culture Wars'
Sarah Lamble (Birkbeck, University of London)
Abstract: Abolitionist politics are often easier to embrace in theory than in practice. For many, the ideals of abolition offer an aspirational framework for challenging the violence of prisons, police and punishment. Yet when confronted with the painful realities of harm and violence in our communities, punitive impulses can easily resurface. We may turn to strategies that inadvertently replicate the same systems of harm we seek to dismantle. Similarly, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between reformist and abolitionist strategies, particularly when trying to deploy “non-reformist reforms” in strategic ways. Further challenges arise in navigating tensions between macro-level structural change and micro-level interpersonal change. This presentation will explore some of these dilemmas through various examples in Britian’s ‘culture wars’ – including current debates around trans rights – to consider what it means to collectively foster everyday practices of abolition.
Speaker: Sarah Lamble is Professor of Criminology & Queer Theory at Birkbeck, University of London. Focussing on questions of gender, sexuality, and justice, Lamble’s research explores queer / feminist alternatives to prisons, policing, and punishment. Lamble is currently completing a Leverhulme-funded research project, ‘Beyond sex versus gender: Rethinking the 'gender wars' in Britain’, which considers the carceral safety politics of disputes over transgender rights. In addition to their academic work, Lamble is co-founder of the Bent Bars Project, a penpal scheme for imprisoned LGBTQ+ people in Britain, and has been an organiser with Abolitionist Futures, which develops education and resources for abolition in the UK and Ireland.
This event will take place online and in-person. Please register at the link to receive the Microsoft Teams link in advance of the event.
Location: Criminology Seminar Room, Centre for Criminology (St Cross Building, OX1 3TJ