The Art of Liberating Humanity

Abstract

The Art of Liberating Humanity is an essay that gestures at abolitionist prison reform. Situating itself against liberal and neo-liberal calls for greater access to any and all forms of education in prisons, particularly the prevailing trends that encourage STEM and/or business fields, or reductionist arguments for vocational training, as well as against radical abolitionist arguments that prison reforms only serve to “pad the cage,” this essay advocates in favor of a liberal arts and humanities rich curriculum for incarcerated students, particularly because of their ability to activate the radical imagination. Drawing heavily on Herbert Marcuse’s essay, On Liberation , and inspired by tradition of radical pedagogy- and the likes of Freire and hooks- this essay undertakes the prison classroom as a space of resistance with radical potential.