2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

In the U.S./N.Y. mass incarceration movement, the attention, energy, passion, resources, and subjects are overwhelmingly male prisoners.  Conferences on the theme invariably include the great Angela Davis as (obligatory) Keynoter, which too often becomes the extent of gender inclusion.  To be accurate, recent conferences have included a panel or two on the issues facing incarcerated women.  However, a cohort generally overlooked may be found in New York City on any Friday or Saturday as the midnite hour approaches.  These are the thousands of women who make the weekly trek to visit their incarcerated male loved ones. They gather at designated bus pick-up points in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx - laden with packages, filled with both excitement and trepidation. As they say "We are treated like we are prisoners, too".

The session includes  1) performance comprised of  monologue and movement addressing the physical and emotional travails the wives, girlfriends, mothers, grandmothers who - week after week, year after year, decade after decade -  fill the NY State prison visiting rooms.  In this alternate universe, the negative realities of mass incarceration -  racial injustice,  trauma, violence, power, mental  & physical illness, sexual abuse , and rules and regulations are experienced by both prisoner and loved one. 2) Scholars commentary (Rhonda Y. Williams, LaShawn Harris) related to the performance themes: mass incarceration; social justice; inequality; child welfare; urban housing policies, family kinship networks, and black women's labor.  The scholars' commentary references the historical context for the prison-industrial-complex.