RT Article
T1 Spectacular suffering: Transgressive performance in penal activism
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 24
IS 4
SP 651
OP 668
A1 Corcoran, Mary
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1745792619
AB The spectacle of the body in pain has long functioned heuristically in crime and justice. Within this phenomenon sits a counter-cultural tradition of re-enacting outrages in public view to rally against injustices. This article starts from the established claim that bodily suffering comprises a core matter of humanitarian campaigning. However, if ‘spectacular suffering’ has predominantly been discussed as a visual experience, this article examines its performative aspects. Transgressive performance is evident in demonstrations of forced-feeding, hunger strikes, self-immolation and lip-sewing carried out by prisoners or by their intermediaries with a view to publicizing their cause. During such exhibitions, the body in pain becomes a heuristic device for converting suffering into a medium for public consumption. However, tropes of corporal suffering are susceptible to cultural contestation and resistance from spectators. These possibilities call the publicity of suffering into question as an inherently progressive strategy.
K1 Cultural Criminology
K1 Performance
K1 Prisoners
K1 Public Sphere
K1 Resistance
K1 The body
DO 10.1177/1362480618819796