(Re)writing Identities: Past, Present, and Future Narratives of Young People in Juvenile Detention Facilities

ABSTRACT

Using the published work of incarcerated youth in the United States, this paper explores how the youth creatively constructed their past, present, and future identities as students, sons, love partners, siblings, and juvenile offenders. The paper focuses on how writing transgresses the physical boundaries of confinement, while simultaneously reifying the centrality of incarceration as a life-changing experience; an experience had by tens of thousands of young people in the US year after year. An analysis of written work published in the publications of InsideOut Writers, a non-profit organisation that provides creative writing classes to incarcerated youth in Los Angeles County, CA, indicated that many youth engaged themselves as objects of study. More to the point, they studied themselves in: 1) remembered/reconstructed past interactions and/or contexts; 2) (re)constructed present contexts; and in 3) imagined future contexts and interactions with others, including society as a whole. Relying on the literature on social literacy practises and our sociological understanding of the self, reflexivity, abjection, and stigma, we argue that incarcerated youth use their creativity to reflect on their physical confinement and their lives, (re)inscribe their life narratives, and (re)write their past, present, and future selves. The paper closes with our reflection of our three years as volunteer teachers with InsideOut Writers.

KEYWORDS:

• Juveniles
• incarceration
• life narratives
• identity construction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mary Christianakis is an Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture in the Department of Critical Theory & Social Justice at Occidental College, Los Angeles. She studies literacy development from a critical sociocultural perspective, primarily in urban and multilingual school contexts. For the past four years, she has taught creative writing to incarcerated youth, and is currently in the process of researching juvenile justice issues.

Richard Mora is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Occidental College, Los Angeles. He studies youth, masculinity, and education. For the past four years, he has taught creative writing to incarcerated youth, and is currently in the process of researching juvenile justice issues.

Notes

1. Shaq refers to Shaquille O'Neal, a retired professional basketball player, who played 19 seasons and averaged just above 50% from the free throw line. Nemo refers to a young clownfish that is the main character in the animated film, Finding Nemo.

2. Homie, or homey, is short for homeboy, which is used to refer to a fellow gang member, a close friend, or both.

3. ‘Green’ refers to money, specifically US paper currency.

4. The Vida Loca, or more commonly, La Vida Loca, is Spanish for ‘the crazy life’, which is how Latina/o gang members describe gang life.