Contemplating Suicide: Responding to the Life and Death of Ashley Smith

This thesis explores Ashley Smith’s experiences in the Canadian Correctional Facilities, and attempts to explore the ways in which her experiences were enframed by a heavily biopoliticized system. I demonstrate the ways in which, when traditional avenues of recourse failed, Ashley used her body and the objects in her seclusion cell as a means of communicating her dissatisfaction. Several theorists have thought about the intersection o f made objects and selfhood - Hannah Arendt and Elaine Scarry among them - and I use these theorists, along with Julia Kristeva and Jacques Rancière, to consider that 'speech’ can manifest itself in many different ways.

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theory and Criticism

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rooney, Laura Colleen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Biswas-Mellamphy, Dr.Nandita

• Ashley Smith
• prison
• speech
• testimony
• self injury
• Hannah Arendt
• Julia Kristeva
• Jacques Rancière

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/18254

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/18254