The Joan Rosen Fellowship Program
Undergraduate-Faculty Research Collaboration
Creative Writing in Prison: Empowering via Voice
Anette Gilson, Associate Professor of English, and Jennifer Taggart, creative writing major, implemented the OU Prison Arts Creative Writing Program, a partnership with the Prison Creative Arts Program, at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan.
Inmates played an active role in the program, from selecting some of the readings to taking on a teaching role during some sessions. Further, their writings are being compiled into a manuscript, which the OU Prison Arts Creative Writing Program plans to publish.
The feedback they received has been overwhelmingly positive: scholars within the field of prison pedagogy (most notably, Niels Herold) have promoted their work, an Oakland University philosophy professor has contacted them regarding a possible degree-granting program for inmates, and they have been invited to continue running this program at the Thumb Correctional Facility.
This collaboartion has yielded an article for a forthcoming book, Prison Pedagogy.
Professor Annette Gilson