Romina Garcia | When Did Care Become Carceral? Surveillance and the Containment of Black Life
This lecture investigates compulsory (state-mandated) “good citizenship” classes, mothering classes, and other forms of pedagogical discipline and surveillance that have become central to the structuring of domestic violence (DV) advocacy services. These requirements subject Black DV victims/survivors to a form of carceral “sentencing” as a prerequisite for recieving vital services and resources. Dr. Garcia argues that such requirements are based on antiblack moral judgements that serve as a locked gateway to freedom from institutional violence. Studying the convergences of race, gender, and the law illuminates the ways the carceral state continues to influence conceptions of safety, protection, and community.
Romina Garcia is a President’s postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of California, Davis.