Are There Any Histories That Are Off Limits?

Performing History and Autobiographies in Progress with Incarcerated Students, Returning Citizens, Police Officers and More

Abstract

This article offers a descriptive case study of an ongoing attempt at performative autoethnography through Roger Guenveur Smith’s Phi Beta Kappa course Performing History/Autobiography in Progress.  The course iteration in question has been blended with Susan Stein's prison writing workshop and facilitated online via the Zoom platform as a variation of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.  In practice, the course is building upon a program where police officers and recruits enter a carceral setting to study as peers with incarcerated citizens in a three-credit seminar on criminal justice policy.  While that course has a strong focus on public safety and restorative justice the curriculum holds the secondary benefit of providing an opportunity for each set of participants to see the humanity in people they had previously only recognized as adversaries.  Our current version of Performing Histories/Autobiography in Progress builds upon those gains using writing and performance to explore further intersections of self and society—the personal and the political—as observed, at least partially, through the prisms of prison and policing.  Our hope is that this, arts based experiential learning will push all of us to authentically incorporate the voice of the other into our self-narratives and see each other, as well as ourselves, as people with vested interests in our communities and nation.  More specifically, in this article, we are sharing our learning about how the notions of self can be made collaborative through this art and science of writing/performance. Our analysis is structured around interviews with Mr. Smith and Ms. Stein while also utilizing Dr. Norman Conti in the role of participant observer.