Call for Contributions: Special Issue of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP)
In carceral spaces like prisons and halfway houses, food is deeply symbolic and can assume high importance. On the one hand, it can be used by carceral state actors to deliver punishment and exact control. On the other, food can be used by incarcerated and criminalized individuals themselves to express identity, find solace, build community, or to resist and circumvent the repression they face. Through creating one’s own recipes, cooking and sharing food together, appropriating institutional food or refusing food altogether, food offers incarcerated and criminalized individuals’ diverse paths of expression and action. In short, prisonized food is so much more than an effort to meet (or, fail to meet, as is often the case) nutritional standards. As part of a special issue of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP) on the theme of “Food in Prison and Other Carceral Spaces”, we invite contributions that emphasize the fluidity of meanings and uses of food within and beyond prison walls.
Authors are encouraged to submit pieces that critically reflect upon their experiences with food and foodways from diverse perspectives. By foodways we mean the practice of making and consuming food and the social, economic, cultural, political and historic contexts that surround food. Some examples include food as punishment, identity, resistance, community, creative enterprise, coping mechanism, etc. It could also include experiences in food-related prison work in food service, canteen, or farms, or food-based activities such as gardening or culinary courses.
SPECIAL ISSUE CO-EDITORS
Kelsey Tilmer, A.E Stearns, and Amanda Wilson
IMPORTANT DATES
Submission deadline: June 1, 2026
Editorial decision and reviewer comments to authors: October 1, 2026
Revised manuscripts: November 1, 2026
Final editorial decision to authors: January 15, 2027
Publication date: Late-2027
SUBMISSIONS
Via email to jpp@uottawa.ca or by mail to the address below:
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
c/o Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa
120 University Private – Room 14049
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1N 6N5
FULL DETAILS: