Reimagining Pedagogies of the Prison Yard: Using Ethnotheatre to Embody Transcarceral Conocimiento

<p>Latinxs make up 40% of California's population but account for 45% of the prison population and 47% of the jail population (Sawyer, 2023). Their overrepresentation in carceral custody not only impacts the individual but also affects families and communities by limiting access to social, political, and educational capital and agency. In response to gaps in research specific to the collateral impact, this interdisciplinary arts-based qualitative study highlights the experiences of five formerly incarcerated Latino men who participated in an Arts in Corrections playwriting class during their time in a California state prison. This study foregrounds their knowledge as cuentistas (storytellers), both in and out of prison, by drawing on Anzaldúan theories and testimonio (Latina Feminist Group, 2001) to craft a Chicana feminist framework for ethnotheatre as a liberatory, nepantlera methodology. By adapting their testimonios into ethnotheatre, the playwright–researcher reveals that knowledge produced through nepantlera methodology is not just academic discourse, but a form of embodied, collective resistance to dehumanization that must be witnessed in communal settings. Findings show that their testimonios highlight pedagogies of care, alternative ways of knowing, and self-determination in settings that erase voice and agency. In addition, the Chicana feminist practice of listening to testimonios of those who have been discarded reimagines their education and agency as <em>transcarceral conocimiento</em>–the interrogation of ideas and experiences to create knowledge that transcends prison. This study argues for the urgent need to adopt pedagogies in prison that uplift the nuanced tensions and transformational experiences of Latino men, recognizing their knowledge as critical to rethinking education, rehabilitation, and liberation in carceral settings.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Education for Social Justice

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Learning and Teaching

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Reynoso, Mabelle

• ethnotheatre
• mass Incarceration
• alternative ways of knowing
• humanizing pedagogies
• arts in corrections
• rehabilitation
• prison
• Latino men
• Art Education
• Criminology
• Education
• Prison Education and Reentry
• Social Justice

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1044

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-2053