From Guantanamo Bay to Pelican Bay: Hunger Striking and the Biopolitical Geographies of Resistance

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dc.contributor.advisorCohen, Shaul
dc.contributor.authorMorse, Adam
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-27T18:40:42Z
dc.date.available2016-10-27T18:40:42Z
dc.date.issued2016-10-27
dc.description.abstractIn this work I illustrate the ways in which power structures function in operationalizing geographies of resistance in two particular carceral spaces. Specifically I examine the social organization and internal power relations present within hunger striking prison populations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California. I show that the Guantanamo hunger strikes are minimally organized with non-binding power structures, while the Pelican Bay hunger strikes have had greater levels of commitment, and have been more sophisticated in organization. I consider the relationships that exist between power, identity and violence within these hunger strike resistance movements. I contextualize these phenomena within a biopolitical framework that transgresses more traditional definitions of biopolitics; as opposed to conceptualizing biopolitics as a technology of power manifested by the state, I argue that oppressed populations, such as prisoners, construct their own power by regulating their own ‘vital biological processes’.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/20468
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectBiopoliticsen_US
dc.subjectHunger strikeen_US
dc.subjectIdentityen_US
dc.subjectPrisonen_US
dc.subjectResistanceen_US
dc.subjectScaleen_US
dc.titleFrom Guantanamo Bay to Pelican Bay: Hunger Striking and the Biopolitical Geographies of Resistance
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Geography
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.levelmasters
thesis.degree.nameM.A.

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