University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Planned timetable: 11.00 Fri

Today, prisons are the response to poverty, drugs, and political dissent. Over the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement shows us how violent policing and incarceration disproportionately target people of colour, especially Black people. This module confronts this history and its contemporary continuities and invite students to imagine a world without prisons. It is also an opportunity to investigate critically the efficacy and functions of prison reforms.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass IR2005 and pass IR2006

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 lecture (X11 weeks), 2 tutorials (X10 weeks), 3 hours (X11 preparation), 8 hours (X11 other student study hours), 2 hours (X11 office hours), 2 hours (X11 for film/video viewing), 1 hours (X11 one-to-one supervision)

Scheduled learning hours: 141

Guided independent study hours: 163

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 50%
Practical examinations : %
Coursework: 50%

Re-assessment: Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr M M B Shwaikh
Module teaching staff: Dr Malaka Shwaikh

Intended learning outcomes

• Exhibit inter-disciplinary understanding of prisons' functions and impacts
• Apply knowledge about the diverse roles and functions of prisons through empirical engagement with several case studies
• Critically analyze prisons as sites of resistance and political struggle
• Relate critical understandings of prison contexts to inter-disciplinary approaches to continuities and effects of racism, colonialism, and patriarchy
• Analytically and critically understand and center discussion of justice alternatives, including arguments in favor of prison abolition