Mediating Punishment? Prisoners’ Songs as Relational ‘Problem-Solving’ Devices

Authors

Phil Crockett ThomasFollow
Jo Collinson ScottFollow
Fergus McNeillFollow
Oliver EscobarFollow
Lucy Cathcart FrödénFollow
Alison UrieFollow

Abstract

In this article we share some findings from the Distant Voices – Coming Home project. It is a partnership between the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and the West of Scotland, and the Glasgow-based arts charity Vox Liminis. Distant Voices aims to explore and practice re/integration after punishment through creative collaborations (primarily songwriting) and action-research. The project is complex and interdisciplinary, blurring boundaries between creative practices, community-building, research, knowledge exchange and public engagement. As such, this article does not present a synthesis of project findings, but instead discusses original music created within the project, proposing that an analysis of the ‘musical event’ (DeNora 2003) of the songwriting can tell us about punishment and re/integration.

Recommended Citation

Crockett Thomas, Phil; Collinson Scott, Jo; McNeill, Fergus; Escobar, Oliver; Cathcart Frödén, Lucy; and Urie, Alison, Mediating Punishment? Prisoners’ Songs as Relational ‘Problem-Solving’ Devices, Law Text Culture, 24, 2020, 138-162.
Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol24/iss1/7