Leisure, Art, and Advocacy: Opportunities for Conscientizaçao, Contentious Dialogue, and Social Justice

Abstract

Leisure is increasingly recognized for its role in social justice. Scholars have highlighted specific leisure contexts as sites for social justice, and calls have been made for academics to apply a social justice perspective to their research. The article explores the experiences of women who have been criminalized and their engagement in social justice through a community arts project located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This article focuses on how women who have been incarcerated experience leisure as a political act by engaging in conscientizaçao and contentious dialogue. Findings, which are presented through Margaux’s Story, emphasize the simultaneous experiences of internalizing stigma, resisting the punitive discourse, and being deserving of a second chance. The discussion contends social justice involves a contentious yet liberating collective experience achieved through shared responsibility between individuals who are oppressed and the greater community.

Keywords:

• advocacy
• community arts
• criminalized women
• leisure
• social justice

Introduction

Leisure is increasingly recognized as a political experience (Hemingway, 1999) that can result in experiences of social change (Glover, 2003; Mair, 2002/2003; Sharpe, 2008; Yuen, 2013) and social justice (Fortune & McKeown, 2016; Parry, Johnson, & Stewart, 2013; Stewart, 2014; Yuen & Pedlar, 2009). Community gardens (Glover), music festivals (Sharpe), cultural centers (Yuen), and cultural ceremonies (Yuen & Pedlar) have been highlighted as leisure contexts for political engagement. In this regard, leisure is a “kind of intellectual embodied play…to engage with others in a dialogically responsive, civil, and respectful way” (Holba, 2016, p. 53). Such a process encompasses thinking, acting, and being (Holba, 2015). Enacting social justice through leisure has been presented as pleasure-politics, whereby leisure plays an active role in broader societal change (Sharpe). According to Duncombe (2002) and Sharpe (2008), traditional methods of protest (e.g., marches, chants, civic disobedience) have become outdated and ineffective, and they tend to result in messages that are easily ignored and discounted. In contrast, leisure in politics is useful because it is “participatory and productive” and ultimately increases the efficacy of disrupting the status quo (Sharpe, p. 228). Leisure-like components, such as dance, puppetry, visual arts, theater, and music, have increasingly been used in political events and have been argued to contribute to a more sustainable model of politics marked by inspiration, action, connection, and engagement with others (Duncombe). In particular, arts-based encounters are noted for their potential to inspire collective steps toward healing and social change¹ (Hersey & Bobick, 2016). Through narrative inquiry, this article explores the experiences of formally incarcerated women in a community arts project aimed toward enacting social justice.

Social justice moves toward the “elimination of institutionalized domination and oppression” (Young, 1990, p. 15). As stated by Parry et al. (2013), social justice aims to bring power structures and differentials to the forefront and strives for change in the enactment of power. Furthermore, the notion of justice strives for “conditions necessary for the development and exercise of individual capacities and collective communication and cooperation” (Young, p. 39). The social justice approach encompasses opportunities and supports for individuals and groups who have been marginalized to impact the direction and approach to change. While leisure scholars have encouraged a social justice perspective on leisure research (Allison, 2000; Stewart, 2014), little is known about how marginalized populations, such as women who are criminalized, experience leisure as a political act.

The purpose of this article is to explore how women who have been incarcerated in Canadian prisons experience leisure as a vehicle for citizen engagement, advocacy, and social justice. The study suggests leisure experiences have the potential for participants to consider the implication of social injustices upon themselves and be inspired to take action. The process is complex, and certain nuances of (dis)empowerment and barriers to engagement complicate efforts toward social justice. The study suggests women who have been incarcerated contribute to their marginalized status through internalized oppression while simultaneously challenging the social stigma and injustices they face.

The final section of this article highlights considerations for leisure professionals and researchers to consider when exploring leisure as opportunities for social justice with marginalized populations. While the direction of a social justice movement is to be guided by individuals and groups who are oppressed, a high degree of responsibility for the greater community (e.g., government, community organizations, and academics) is also required. Unfortunately, society has been more constraining rather than supporting of women’s efforts for individual and social change. As highlighted by Yuen, Arai, and Fortune (2012), women in prison expressed a desire to support others in the hopes of helping them avoid a path of addiction and crime. However, in the same conversation, these women quickly identified roadblocks, such as criminal record checks required for volunteering. Such an example reflects how an individual’s desire to create change is hampered by societal structures and stigma. As such, responsibility for change lies within the person as well as greater society.

Women in prison

According to the World Female Imprisonment List from the International Center for Prison Studies (Walmsley, 2017), the number of women who are incarcerated across 221 prison systems in independent countries and dependent territories has risen 53% since 2000 (Walmsley). The significant rise in the incarceration of women is particularly noticeable in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland (Pedlar, Arai, Yuen, & Fortune, 2018). As Walmsley explains, the increase of female incarceration cannot be attributed to an increase in population. Rather, the rise is more likely a reflection of the changing policies related to crime and punishment (Jeffries & Newbold, 2016; Pedlar et al.), particularly those related to economic deprivation (More & Scaton, 2016). As More and Scaton explain, women in societies “where social exclusion and political marginalization are directly related to economic deprivation” (p. 562) generally carry the burden of poverty and gendered violence (e.g., prostitution, physical, domestic, sexual abuse). Other researchers reaffirm this assertion, highlighting that females generally commit crimes as a result of their oppression and experiences of victimization (Marcus-Mendoza, Klein-Saffran, & Lutze, 1998) and are predominantly motivated by poverty or dependency on alcohol or drugs (Bloom, 1999). Jeffries and Newbold suggest the increase in female incarceration in Australia may be explained, in part, by more severe responses to less serious crimes. Pedlar and her colleagues indicate a correlation between the rise of women in Canada’s prisons and the Omnibus Crime Bill C-10 passed in 2012, which included a mandatory minimum sentence for drug-related offenses. More and Scaton further contend:

While not all women’s offending behaviour has a direct economic correlation, its prevalence is self-evident in prisons within advanced capitalist states. Inside women’s prisons there is a significant over-representation of women and girls from the most marginalized communities, whose offence reflect the structural inequalities that circumscribe their daily lives and opportunities. (p. 562)

The majority of women who have been incarcerated experience multiple forms of oppression due to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse (Bloom & Covington, 1998; Boritch, 2001); gender (Maidment, 2002; Monture-Angus, 2000; Richie, 2001); economic status (Ritchie); racial identity (Faith, 2006; Monture-Angus, 2000; Sugar & Fox, 1990); and the prison system itself (Foucault, 1995). Furthermore, poverty, underemployment, undereducation, and trauma are not uncommon for many women who are incarcerated (Pedlar et al., 2018; Ritchie). As such, women generally commit crimes as a response to their economic and/or social oppression.

Women’s corrections in Canada

Recognizing the oppressive and traumatic experiences of women who are incarcerated ultimately led to the development of a new philosophy for women’s corrections in Canada called Creating Choices (Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women, 1990). The new approach to women’s corrections reshaped a correctional system that was based on a model of punishment to one that focused on rehabilitation. Creating Choices emphasized five guiding principles: empowerment, meaningful and responsible choices, respect and dignity, supportive environment, and shared responsibility (TFFSW). The last principle, shared responsibility, is particularly pertinent to the current study because it underscores the involvement of the greater community. More specifically, Creating Choices advocates the government, voluntary sector services, businesses, and community members take responsibility in fostering the interdependence and self-reliance of women who have been incarcerated (TTFFSW).

Despite the recommendations of Creating Choices, an overemphasis on the responsibility of the offender currently exists in the rehabilitation and reintegration rhetoric. When women leave prison, the focus is often on the ways they must change (Fortune & Arai, 2014). That is, the individual, rather than the community, becomes the focus of the rehabilitation process. A social justice approach aims to reframe the process of rehabilitation to consider both the individual and greater society. Social justice is dependent on shared responsibility. As Fortune and Arai contend, social justice is more than a matter of self-determination. They also emphasize the responsibility of the community as a critical element in the process of social change. Stride Circles, a program offered by Community Justice Initiatives in a Canadian women’s prison, can be seen as a leisure-based initiative that supports a social justice approach. This program involves individuals from the community connecting with a woman in prison through a recreational program called Stride Night (Fortune, Thompson, Pedlar, & Yuen, 2010). Upon the woman’s release, one or two members from the community provide support to the woman as she returns to the community and assist in a variety of ways, including accessing health care and emotional support. Notably, the research indicates the women released from prison and community members both gained from the relationships within the Stride Circle and underscores self-respect, opportunity, balance of power, and honoring important elements of social justice.

Self-respect and honor are particularly important aspects to consider, especially for individuals who have been incarcerated. Unfortunately, stigma is one of the biggest reentry problems experienced by offenders (Rose & Clear, 2003). Stigma exists when offenders perceive they are being labeled as “bad” by others (Fortune et al., 2010) and is amplified for formally incarcerated women. As McCorkel (2003) argues, women who have been incarcerated are not only considered deviant as criminals but also deviant as women who do not fit the “responsible, clean, and self-restrained” caregivers they are supposed to be (p. 70). Tangled within this stigma is the public perception that women who are criminalized are evil and undeserving of support for reintegration. The following section further considers the implications of this stigma for women as they engage in the reentry process.

Stigma

Stigma and fear of this stigma experienced by female offenders limit their opportunities to engage as active citizens (Yuen et al., 2012). Negative public sentiment has resulted in roadblocks for formerly incarcerated women when they attempt to gain access to social and economic facets of civic life such as housing, employment, and leisure (Pedlar, Arai, & Yuen, 2007; Pollack, 2007). Such research indicates a need for support while in prison and upon release. However, as evidence by the media and perceptions of the wider community, retribution is the dominant sentiment that prevails (Pedlar et al., 2007). According to dominant Western ideology, justice is about retribution and placing punishment upon the guilty party (Zehr, 2002). In short, the stigma placed upon female offenders is exacerbated by the dominant discourse of crime and punishment.

The stigma experienced by incarcerated women can be understood as a form of peaceful violence, “which is enacted in the structures that produce and maintain social disparities, structured poverty, residential segregation, unequal opportunities, and discriminatory access” (Lewis, Mowatt, & Yuen, 2016, p. 102). The threat of this violence contributes to criminalized women’s oppression by facilitating a culture of silence (Freire, 2006a). According to Freire (2006a), the values, attitudes, and actions of people who are oppressed are sociologically and historically conditioned to reflect those of the dominant society. In this particular context, women who have been incarcerated are generally characterized in the media as predators, brutal, savage, mad, and bad (Pedlar et al., 2007). Women who are criminalized often end up self-identifying with such labels and ultimately accept the stigma, prejudice, and oppression that come with it. This acceptance leads to a culture of silence, which has the power to render individuals who are oppressed mute as they become contributors in their own oppression (Freire, 2006a). In other words, the oppression becomes internalized.

Second chances

Thankfully, the story does not end here. Organizations such as la Société de Elizabeth Fry du Québec (SEFQ) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, have been working tirelessly to advocate for and with criminalized women. The community arts project discussed in this article, Donner une Deuxième Chance (DDC, Give it a Second Chance) is an example of community members, organizations, and women who have been incarcerated coming together for social justice. The idea behind this project was that there needs to be a reciprocal relationship of second chances. On the one hand, women who have been criminalized need a second chance, and on the other, women need to develop the capacity to trust again (having been abused, abandoned, and shamed before, during, and after their incarceration) and thus learn to give society a second chance. The project was inspired by Art Entr’Elles, a collective of community artists who have been in conflict with the law, and professional artists who have an interest in community art and had support (financial, human capital, and social capital) from SEFQ and Engrenage Noir/LEVIER. “Through art, this project aimed to inspire change in our society in order for these women to no longer feel abandoned by it” (Société de Elizabeth Fry du Québec, nd, para. 1). In this way, the research examines the extent to which DDC acted as a context for liberation from social and internalized stigma. More specifically, the research considers Freire’s (2006a) concept of conscientizaçao and contentious dialogue as integral aspects of the women’s experiences of social justice.

Conscientizaçao

Conscientizaçao is a term coined by Paulo Freire, who argued education should enable individuals who are oppressed to overcome their social and economic conditions (Freire, 2006a). Freire (2006a) proposed this experience would enable individuals to transform their lived experiences into knowledge and regain not only their humanity but also that of their oppressors. Such an act is based upon love and solidarity and results in freedom. He also argued this liberation is a struggle and filled with pain, stating “freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift (p. 47).

According to Freire (2006a, 2006b), conscientizaçao involves a deepening sense of critical awareness of the world, which ultimately leads to liberation. In the case of women who have been incarcerated, this liberation is characterized through human solidarity and inclusion (vs. alienation and isolation), making meaningful choices (vs. living out a prescribed life set forth by social stigma), becoming actors in their own lives (vs. spectators), and speaking out as they actively seek a just world (vs. being silenced). Such an experience was generated through action and reflection (Freire, 2006b). Without action there is hopelessness and despair (Freire, 2006a), and without reflection there is meaninglessness (Freire, 2006b).

A critique of Freire’s pedagogy is that it rests heavily on the notion that responsibility is on the individuals who are oppressed since “it is necessary for people to identify these themselves and then to conceive of collective actions, based on that knowledge, to overcome them” (Lundy & McGovern, 2008, p. 280). DDC may provide an opportunity for conscientizaçao through the women’s engagement of contentious dialogue and their artistic creations. However, this was not done in isolation from the rest of society. Rather, the project was a vision of formally incarcerated women, and supported by members of the community. In other words, the project was created with the understanding that responsibility rests upon both individuals who are oppressed and the greater community. As such, we bring for the notion of contentious dialogue, which occurs in collaboration with the greater community and encompasses the notion of shared responsibility.

Contentious dialogue

Contentious dialogue (CD) is a term used to describe the kind of conversation the women experienced as they engaged in social justice. A review of the literature indicates CD has not been widely used, if at all. As such, the articulation of this term predominantly comes from the authors and their observations, analyses, and theorizing.

CD can be understood as a collective questioning and challenging of ideas and practices. While multiple perspectives are unearthed in this dialogue, it is different from a debate because it is less formal. That is, there is no articulation of opposing arguments and presentation of what these arguments are, nor is there a clear winner or outcome. In accordance with the social justice framework (see Fortune, 2016), CD has the potential to question and disrupt unexamined and taken-for-granted practices that contribute to inequality and injustice (e.g., the prevalence of punishment as justice). Furthermore, notions of shared responsibility come, in part, through the discussion and tension within this dialogue (Butin, 2007).

Dialogue with participants of DDC occurred during their weekly meetings while dialogue with the greater community occurred by way of the workshops with professional artists, the art exhibit and round table discussion about the condition of incarcerated women and their transition into the community, media reports, and the dissemination of findings from the research. The community arts project ultimately provided a leisure space for women who have been incarcerated to collectively reconsider and grapple with the tensions that exist within the retributive discourse and the tensions within the alternative discourse being formed. For example, toward the end of the project a highly valued and respected woman came to the workshop intoxicated. Previously, all participants of DDC had agreed no intoxicated person(s) would be able to attend the workshop. However, when this individual arrived intoxicated, the workshop participants felt they needed come together and decide if they would ask her to leave. Considerations included weather (winter) and time of day (dark outside), the type of residence (supervised housing), whether the individual would be safe outside alone and intoxicated, the individual’s valued contributions to the project, and whether the group was enforcing the punitive discourse they were trying to resist. In end, with much difficulty, the women decided to ask the individual who was intoxicated to leave – not for punitive reasons but for the safety and well-being of the other members of the group. Notably, there was follow-up to ensure the woman got back to her apartment safely. A few individuals and a representative from the woman’s former halfway house went to her apartment the next day to make sure she was alright. These actions coincide with Butin’s (2007) notion of shared responsibility, where the women and an organization from the community come together and collectively supported the individual who was asked to leave. In this particular situation, the CD revealed what might seem like a reinforcement of punitive forms of justice was actually enacted for collective well-being.

Such a process is similar to the dialogue that was reported to emerge out of a contentious event that occurred at a federal women’s prison in Canada (Pedlar et al., 2007). The event comprised a workshop centered on promoting healthy living and wellness and included aspects related to personal care and health activities as well as leisure and recreation. The workshop, which was promoted as Women’s Day Away and organized by community volunteers through chaplaincy in the prison, became notoriously known as “Spa Day” in the media. Researchers noted media attention in national newspapers largely reinforced the stigma of female offenders and reiterated the punitive rhetoric. In contrast, the local media engaged in a more divergent representation. Local newspaper articles reiterated the dominant notion of retributive justice and reinforced the stigma around female offenders. They also highlighted other perspectives, such as women who are incarcerated and the need for social supports and services both in and out of prison. As stated by Pedlar and her colleagues, social justice involves “narrowing the space between members of the community and negotiation of conflict rather than the protectionism that we often afford to marginalized populations” (p. 272). They further contend this kind of CD “illustrate[s] how negotiation of conflict and tension can lead to shared understanding of difference” (p. 273). In short, CD leads to dialectical understanding, revelation and critical awareness, and a collective sense of hope and action. The hope of (re)creating the world is not done in exile but with others who are and are not like us.

In this project, art acted as a vehicle for personal reflection and action and as action and reflection with others (i.e., other women who have been incarcerated, professional artists, and the general public). More specifically, reflection and action with other criminalized women occurred during multiple meetings with participants to decide the artistic direction of the project (e.g., what artistic mediums and themes the group would pursue), while reflection and action with the general public took place during the public art exhibit, which occurred at the end of the project. The aim of the art exhibit was to highlight the reintegration efforts of women who have been in conflict with the law and to remind the community they also contribute to the reintegration of these women by giving them a second chance. While there were multiple paths for reflection and action, the focus of this article is on the experiences of the women prior to the art exhibit. The following section will provide further details about DDC and the research process.

Research context and process

As previously mentioned, DDC was inspired by a collective, Art Entr'Elles, consisting of formally incarcerated women and professional artists. As stated elsewhere (see Fortune & Yuen, 2015), the study was initiated by an advisory committee that came out of the collective consisting of Geneviève Fortin and Julie Chantal St. Jean (two formally incarcerated women), Aleksandra Zajko (social coordinator from SEFQ), and Devora Neumark (director from Engrenage Noir/LEVIER). Geneviève and Julie Chantal were the driving force behind most of the ideas and the way in which the project would be structured. Aleksandra and Devora helped support their vision. Given all participants of the project were women who were formally incarcerated, the project is framed as an initiative by women who have been in prison for women who have been prison.

One of the authors of this article, Felice, was involved on a previous project with members of the advisory committee and worked with Indigenous women in prison for her doctorate (see Yuen, 2010, 2011a, 2011b; Yuen & Pedlar, 2009). During her time as a graduate student she was particularly moved by the lack of resources for women upon their reentry back into the community. Eventually, Felice connected with the SEFQ, knowing it was one of the few organizations that provided support and services for previously incarcerated women. Aware of her interests and desire to support formally incarcerated women, members of the committee approached Felice, invited her to become part of the committee, and asked her to conduct research on the community art project. The advisory committee had been successful in applying for grants from Ville de Montréal and Gouvernement du Québec, but this funding only covered the operational expenses of the project. The committee’s desire to conduct research was to support their efforts to raise awareness about the stigma, promote social inclusion, improve subsequent workshops, and provide empirical evidence for future applications for funding. While the purpose, policies, and practices of DDC were decided upon prior to Felice’s involvement, decisions for the research project, such as its method of data collection and interview guide, were made collectively amongst committee members and by consensus (i.e., all members had to agree for anything to be included). Members also helped guide the dissemination of the research, including this article.

Participants of DDC were women who had been previously incarcerated. Some had prior art experience while others had none. Women were informed about the project by SEFQ staff, Geneviève and Julie Chantale. Any woman who had transitioned or was in the process of transitioning out of a correctional system was invited to participate. The group met three times a week for six months. While women were encouraged to make a commitment to the project, their attendance was voluntary.

The study was a participatory action research (PAR) project, which sought, in part, to raise awareness about the stigma associated with female offenders, poverty, and homelessness and to promote social inclusion. PAR is an approach researchers have used when working with marginalized groups and individuals and who have expressed a desire to help foster social change (Frisby, Reid, Millar, & Hoeber, 2005). The consensus-based approach used for decision making helps ensure all participants agree that the research will contribute toward their cause. A cornerstone of this research was optimum participation, which involves “getting the right balance between depth and inclusion right for the purpose at hand” (Cornwall, 2008, p. 276). As Gallant and Sharpe (2016) contend, forms of participation aim to be appropriate and meaningful. Notably, when participants were asked if they wanted to participate in the analysis and dissemination of findings, they were not interested. Given the amount of stress associated with reentry (Fortune et al., 2010), participants likely felt they did not have the time or energy to be concerned with this responsibility.

DDC was founded upon democratic values and a participatory process. Geneviève and Julie Chantal facilitated weekly round table discussions where participants identified potential guest artists to be involved and made decisions related to future art projects. DDC aimed to provide a safe environment for the development of personal empowerment and sense of worth; to create opportunities for self-expression and socialization; and promote the discovery and use of new and old talents. A research assistant conducted one-on-one interviews with the women since Felice was on maternity leave and was limited in her ability to speak French, the primary language in which the majority of interviews were conducted. While not being directly involved in the art making or aspects of decision making, Felice, her baby, and the research assistant were present throughout various aspects of the project.

The study

Data collection

Data were collected from nine semi-structured interviews conducted with women toward the end of the project. The interviews, which were between 10 and 30 minutes in length, were audio-recorded and conducted at the workshop location in a private room. The interviews conducted in French were translated during transcription into English. Any woman who was involved in the project over the course of a three-week period toward the end of the project was invited to participate in the research. Women who participated in the study ranged in age from early 20s to late 50s. Time spent in prison ranged between four months and six years. Six of the nine women had children. Employment status varied, but the majority of women were either unemployed or working part-time at the time of the interview. All of the women were white. The women were not explicitly asked about the nature of their crimes; however, most voluntarily disclosed their incarceration was in some way related to their substance addiction.

The interview guide was created by the advisory committee to answer the following research question: To what extent does DDC impact participants’ self-esteem, identity development, and empowerment? The women answered questions such as:

1. Can you tell me about your artwork and what it represents?

2. Can you explain how participating in this work affects your process of reintegration?

3. What do you think has been the biggest challenge in your process of reintegration?

4. How do you think you are viewed by society?

Data analysis

The data were initially analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to identify common experiences and stories. First, we reviewed interview transcripts to identify all aspects of the data that helped illustrate how the project was affecting participants’ self-esteem, identity development, and empowerment. Following this process, we identified common themes, patterns, and divergences, paying particular attention to data that helped articulate the women’s processes and experiences of empowerment. The three main themes we identified in our analysis were internalizing stigma, resisting the punitive discourse, and being deserving of a second chance.

When this phase of our analysis was complete, we realized the richness of the women’s stories would risk being lost if the data were thematically presented. As such, we returned to the data and conducted narrative analysis by organizing data chronologically and identifying elements that contributed to the development of a story (Polkinghorne, 1995). Since narrative analysis focuses on uncovering individual and group stories (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), analyzing the stories shared by the women enabled us to identify a common narrative told during interviews (Glover, 2003).

As Glover (2003) explained, narrative analysis “involves taking the elements of a story, possibly from a variety of sources, and reconstructing it into a coherent sequence of events that retains the essence of the storyteller’s or storytellers’ account(s)” (p. 156). Following this process, we created a composite narrative — the story of Margaux. We kept the narrative as close to the women’s stories as possible by using real examples and the women’s own words and phrases (written in italics), which meant the themes identified during our initial analysis are central to the narrative. Although the narrative does not capture every experience and story the women shared, it captures what we identified to be the most salient aspects of women’s experiences in relation to their transition from prison and their experience in the art project (Berbary, 2011).

We chose to capture the women’s stories in the form of a composite narrative for two main reasons. First, narratives are presented in temporal order; they have a beginning, middle, and end that organizes events into a coherent plot with a resolution. This structure is meant to bring readers into the story and increase their understanding about the events being described (Glover, 2003). Second, since narratives are intended to draw readers in and hold their attention, they often contain aspects of embellishment and persuasion (Schwandt, 2001).

We hope the story of Margaux moves readers away from characterizing participants as criminalized women and toward seeing them as individuals who are wholly human. According to Freire (2006a), the pedagogy of the oppressed includes a concern for humanization and acknowledgement that those who have been oppressed have been dehumanized through distortion and division of their humanity. We also hope the story will help readers understand the complexity inherent in women’s experiences. Organizing the data into a story enabled us to provide context and emotion to what women said (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Stories provide contextually rich alternatives to conventional block-style quotes, which can create a separation between information and the circumstances and experiences from which they arise. We intend the story to be persuasive (Schwandt, 2001) and highlight women’s ongoing struggle with stigma as they strive to create social change for women who are released from prison by changing the dominant punitive discourse.

Margaux’s story: Second chances

It’s been 4 months. I live in a halfway house. I would like to stay in bed at home all day. It’s easier that way. We are judged and labelled. They make you think you're not up to par. You’re not worthy of getting your children back. My family is high class, the judgment is high. I’m very, very lonely. The minute I get out of the transition house I can’t see anyone or hang out with anyone who has a record. I don’t know anyone! I’m not at home. I’m always, always alone. I can’t think of anything besides dope. My main problem is substance abuse and addiction, so living in society is unimaginable.

This girl comes around the halfway house. She’s been in prison too. She told me about this project, but I don’t give a shit. We will rehash the same problems. I need to get away from it. I’m a country person, so I need quiet. I told my social workers I was going crazy with the noises and they looked at me like I was schizo. You know that’s what it is: I’ve lost all credibility. No car, no house, no friends. So who am I?

Who am I?

Did you know there are only two-transition houses for women in Quebec. For those who have no apartment and no family, the location of the transition house doesn’t really make a difference. For all those women, like myself, who live in the outskirts, this is a huge dilemma.

So, I ended up going to the community art project. I always feel anxious before coming. What if I don’t know what to do? It will be a long three hours. The first 30 minutes I’m full of emotions. I often talk to the guest artists which I really enjoy. Good thing they're there. Once I’ve talked to them, my ideas get running and I feel better. That girl, Geneviève, who first told me to come, told me “All that frustration and sadness and anxiety, take it and put it all in there – your art.”

Now, it feels good to come here. There’s still days that I show up and I’m miserable. Then next thing you know after two hours, fuck, I’m already feeling better. It feels really good. I’m discovering myself and allowing myself to express it. I made a doll with barbed wire all around her to represent me and my suffering. When you look at my artwork, it’s shocking. It hurts. It’s questioning why they do it, how can we help out? I try to make the difference between self-mutilation and suicide. I have a lot of questions around that.

Did you know, it would be that much easier to continue doing what I was doing because I had been told from the start things like “a criminal is always a criminal.” Had I been told, “don’t worry, things will come around, things will get better for you … you will have a second chance” – if I had been given the encouragement right from the start, I would have never have a list this long of charges.

I’m making a doll where you have one body but three heads. Half a face is the professional schoolteacher that I was and the other half is a diminished scraggly gypsy-like girl living in jail, in poverty, with nothing just the clothes on her back. So, I’m putting my past behind me to reveal the new face, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what that will look like. I’m struggling with the third face. I know there is a transformation but I just don’t know what this new person is. I don’t know how to dress the person. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t have a job. So, that’s my contribution to the project, hoping that the world will be giving me a second chance. Somewhere, someone will.

The others want to do a public art exhibit. Geneviève is suggesting it will be three nights. She says it could be more intimate, so people can ask questions. So, people who are still unsure can ask, “What is conditional release?” When she told her dad that Harper, our prime minister, had taken away early parole, he said, “That’s great, it’s too easy here! A lot of people get out early and fall back in their way.” She told him, for the one person who relapsed, there’s about five hundred who didn’t. You just don’t hear about those. And you never will. The media isn’t representative.

Already, educating her dad was a huge success.

I’m working on another a doll. It’s the dead man’s wife from Tim Burton’s a Nightmare before Christmas. The dead side of the bride represents the dead side of women when they go in to prison. They lose all joy, they become dead. The wedding dress represents hope, something new, a peace, a healing.

One day at a time. I don’t picture too far ahead, I try to live in the present. I’ll see. I don’t really know. I don’t just have drug problems, I have all the problems that go with it. It gets really dark.

I just want people to give me a chance to show that I’ve learned, that I’ve changed. I want to know that they will give me a chance to have my place in society. Art is a creative and pacifist way to reach people and educate them. We’re women who had problems and are trying our best to get out of it. Maybe we should do it.

Discussion

Leisure as liberation

Liberation is painful (Freire, 2006a). The experience of participants of DDC suggests one of struggle. A sense of hope toward the end of the project did not necessarily replace identifying oneself as a bad person who does bad things, feelings of anxiety, and fear of being judged. Liberation is certainly not shedding the stigma, combatting the stigma, and then suddenly feeling liberated. Rather, liberation involves the constant moving in and out of identifying with the oppression, fighting the oppression, and moving toward changing the conditions that create the oppression. The women’s experience of liberation occurred simultaneously through CD and conscientizaçao within a leisure context. As illustrated in Margaux’s story, thoughts and feelings were varied and, at times, contradictory as she moved closer to action by way of the public art exhibit. Alongside the doubt and hesitancy, there was also hope and conviction for changing stigma around criminalized women and demonstrating that society has the potential to be more inclusive and supportive, and that women who have been incarcerated are deserving of a second chance.

Arts-based leisure is a particularly important consideration when exploring leisure as a form of liberation. As illustrated in Margaux’s story, liberation involves a dynamic process where understanding, knowing, hoping, and fearing are not static. Art yields tentative conclusions and opportunities to feel and experience multiple, and sometimes opposing, thoughts and emotions (Allen, 1995; Eisner, 2008). In this way, the complexity of oppression and liberation is respected and acknowledged.

Here we look to Bulhan’s (1985) work with Fanon’s (1963) psychology of oppression, which provides further understanding of the women’s engagement with liberation. Leisure, art in this case, offered a container (e.g., activity, social setting, physical location, and time; Henderson, 1990; Shaw, 1986) for participants to move in and out of capitulation, revitalization, and revolution. According to Bulhan, capitulation reinforces the perspective of the oppressors (i.e., viewing self as a bad person). Revitalization involves rejecting the identity put upon oneself by dominant society, which still inevitably reinforces the oppressive structure (i.e., viewing self as someone who has problems and is trying her best to get out of it). And revolution encompasses advocacy and ultimately opportunities to engage as active citizens of society (i.e., pushing for society to view female offenders as people who have made mistakes, be supportive, and acknowledge they are deserving of a second chance). Again, this is not a linear process of separate entities but rather an experience of simultaneous incursion. As suggested by Allen (1995), art, in particular, has the capacity to hold paradoxes — in this case, enabling capitulation, revitalization, and revolution at the same time. Notably, without revolution, the leisure experience becomes an individual experience for personal growth. The revolutionary aspect is one that connects the experience to a larger entity — to social justice.

Engaging in social justice through leisure requires enough emotion, psychological, and emotional space for advocacy to occur. If we want to engage our field in social justice practice and research, we must enter into dialogue with marginalized groups and individuals and be prepared for conflict, tension, and difference. Notably, if we are to push advocacy/revolution on a marginalized group, we risk the potential of reinforcing the very power dynamic we are trying to change. The following section provides some guidelines for leisure professionals and researchers to consider when engaging in social justice.

Leisure as revolutionary

Leisure has the potential to act as a context for social justice by offering a political arena for groups of individuals who are shamed and silenced as a result of their marginalized status to resist the status quo. In particular, arts-based leisure provides a unique context for this kind of revolution to occur. According to Eisner (2008), art is a discursive form of communication that enables knowing something through feeling. As he states, “through art we come to feel…what we cannot see directly” (p. 8), thereby “enriching our awareness and expanding our humanity” (p. 11). In this way, arts-based leisure acts as a medium and context in which CD and conscientizaçao can occur. Furthermore, art offers a pathway for creativity, transformation (Allen, 1995), and offers the potential for new and/or alternative ways of being, which ultimately contributes to creating pathways for social justice (Yuen, 2018).

Both CD and conscientizaçao can be understood as promising practices for leisure initiatives that aim for social justice. Resistance is achieved by engaging in CD, which can also be understood as a precursor to social change by offering the context in which revolutionary strategies are created.

Leisure also has the potential to be the forum in which individuals participate in social change as they educate themselves and others about injustices they have experienced. That is, leisure offers a context for conscientizaçao, where individuals come to better understand the tensions that exist within social, political, and economic structures; how the dominant practices within these structures contribute to their oppression; and collectively take action against this oppression (Freire, 2006a). The stanzas in Margaux’s Story reflect how the women become more critically aware of these oppressive circumstances, and the art exhibit acts as the method in which the women will use this awareness to create change.

DDC was started by women who were incarcerated in collaboration with professional artists and support from SEFQ and Engrenage Noir/LEVIER. In other words, social justice begins with individuals who are marginalized. Such a process resonates with Freire’s (2006a) belief that it is the oppressors who will liberate the oppressed. However, the process of liberation does not end there. As highlighted in the notion of shared responsibility, the greater community is also responsible in supporting the movement.

The onus is on leisure professionals to listen and address the issues raised with the guidance of these community leaders. While DDC was a new project with deliberate democratic practices and policies that enabled the inclusion of women who have been in conflict with the law, it may be that existing recreation centers concede to changes, such as revising policies and practices that increase accessibility or addressing issues of exclusion/inclusion. In all instances, initiatives for social justice are developed with marginalized groups and individuals. The knowledges and experiences of individuals who are marginalized are privileged and take precedence over those in power. Westley, Zimmerman, and Patton (2006) caution these partnerships will likely lead to conflict and tension between individuals who are marginalized and those in power prior to and during their collaboration. Further, during this revolutionary process, individuals who are marginalized will likely continue to experience capitulation and revitalization. As such, flexibility, open-mindedness, respect, and patience with oneself and others are assets to all those involved.

Social justice research does not end in understanding or identifying problems; it also strives to enact change related to social issues (Parry et al., 2013). Leisure scholars who wish to engage in social justice should continue to do research that starts with individuals and communities who are marginalized and acknowledge that the revolutionary component must come from these collaborators. In addition to collaborating with individuals who are marginalized, social justice research requires a certain epistemological and methodological commitment. This commitment is influenced by a paradigmatic shift that involves the exploration of a multitude of critical theories (e.g., critical race theory, feminist theory, queer theory) and methodologies (Parry et al., 2013). This exploration would ultimately enable researchers to discover how they can most effectively take part in social justice. Parry and her colleagues continue by stating:

Methodological strategies [in social justice research] demand a closely connected and empathetic relationship between the researcher and participants that keep social justice as a key tenet of the entire research process. (p. 84)

Such a process requires researchers to embrace the ever-changing dynamics of relationships and the time and energy it takes to nurture, respect, and learn from these relationships. For example, in addition to addressing the recommendations of the reviewers and editors of Leisure Sciences, the completion of this article also involved contemplating and deliberating with our collaborators. The process of enacting social justice continues even after the data are collected and analyzed and includes making accommodations throughout the research process to help ensure a dialectical experience among those involved.

As previously mentioned, women in prison experience multiple forms of oppression. While this study emphasized certain forms of oppression (e.g., economic status and gender), it did not emphasize others, such as racial identity. Race may have not been a dominant form of oppression in this study because the women interviewed were not a visible minority. Nonetheless, in Canada there is an overrepresentation of Indigenous women and women of color who are incarcerated. Alarmingly, in an eight-year period between 2002 and 2010, the number of Black women who were incarcerated in a federal prison increased 54% (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2013). In approximately the same reporting period, between 2002 and 2012, the incarceration of women with Indigenous ancestry in federal prisons increased 109% (Office of the Correctional Investigator). The racialization of these women, among other factors, undoubtedly contributes to this overrepresentation (Monchalin, 2016). Multiple experiences of stigma and oppression exist, and the experiences highlighted in this article are just a few of many. Given the overrepresentation of women of color who are incarcerated, future research should consider emphasizing racial identity.

Leisure as social justice involves an active engagement of individuals who are being oppressed. As participants of DDC experienced capitulation, revitalization, and revolution, they went from spectators to actors. Margaux’s story highlights the experience of women who have been incarcerated becoming active agents in recreating their own, as well as society’s, discourse around female offenders. In this story of liberation, personal and societal change are intertwined. While personal frustrations, anxiety, and fear did not disappear, they were alleviated as women collectively worked toward social justice, combatting social stigma and creating a desire to call upon members of society to acknowledge their responsibility and role in supporting their reintegration.

Leisure professionals, researchers, and participants can support and enhance the possibility of leisure as a context for social justice by embracing and experiencing conflict and tension with others. As exemplified by the practices adopted by DDC, such a process could include the decentralization of power and the adoption of a consensus-based approach used for decision making. Furthermore, the priorities of the experience may become focused on inclusion along with meaningful and appropriate participation (i.e., optimum participation). Within this desire to achieve optimum participation, leisure becomes less about personal enjoyment and satisfaction or understanding and identifying problems through research and more about leisure being socially relevant (Shaw, 2000) and positioning leisure to be a part of a broader social world (Silk, Caudwell, & Gibson, 2017). Without the polemical aspect, there will be no change. Hope, social innovation, and social justice require collaboration. However, as previously mentioned, alongside collaborative efforts for social justice comes confrontation with and resistance from those in power (Westley et al., 2006). While leisure and its impact on personal growth and rehabilitation may have been a motivation for participation, the overall collective experience was instrumental in leisure becoming a context for social justice. From this collective and contentious experience, participants have an opportunity to become more aware, better educated, and inspired to recreate the world in which they live.

Notes

1 For example, Connie Lim (MILCK) performed the song Quiet at the Women’s March (Washington, DC) in 2017, along with 25 women from across the United States (Washington Post, 2017). In addition to mobilizing local and international action against oppression and violence through choirs, individuals performances, and flash mobs, the song has mobilized individuals to share their stories through Twitter (#ICANTKEEPQUIET) and the creation of a website created to fight against the cycle of oppression and fear (see www.icantkeepquiet.org).