The Anthropology of Prisons
Module SOC3141 for 2023/4

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SOC3141: The Anthropology of Prisons

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Core theory in the anthropology and sociology of prisons: Foucault, Goffman and Sykes

Getting into prison: evaluating ethnographic research as a methodology for the study of imprisonment

Case study: Bomana Prison, Papua New Guinea.

Case study: Unnamed Prison, Kolkata, India.

Case study: the Feminine Penitentiary Centre, Miraflores, La Paz, Bolivia.

Case study: HMP Maze (or Long Kesh), County Down, Northern Ireland.

Case study: the design of carcerality for Aboriginal people in Australia and Canada

Sensory penalties

Prisons and their relatives: detention centres, psychiatric units and zoos.

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	22	Weekly 2-hour lectures/seminars or 1 hour lecture + 1 hour seminar.
Guided independent study	32	Reading of the set texts for weekly lectures and the tutorials
Guided independent study	32	Additional reading under the guidance of the lecturer
Guided independent study	25	Preparation and writing of the essay
Guided independent study	25	Preparation and writing of the contextualisation and critique exercise
Guided independent study	6	Background research conducted by the student depending on need and interest
Guided independent study	8	Recapitulation of reading done throughout the term

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).