Recovering identity : criminalized women's fight for dignity and freedom / Cesraéa Rumpf

Includes bibliographical references and index

Women, incarceration, and social marginality -- "They just look at us like we ain't nobody and we don't have rights" : the violence of incarceration -- "You cannot fight no addiction without god first" : the permanent moral judgment of the criminal-addict label -- "I feel good about myself now" : recovering identity through employment and appearance -- "God blessed the child that has her own" : recovering identity through domesticity and mothering -- "I've gotten so much better than I used to be" : recovering identity through relationships -- The personal is political : moving toward social transformation -- Appendix : methodological tensions

"Recovering Identity examines a critical tension in criminalized women's identity work. Through in-depth qualitative and photo-elicitation interviews, Cesraéa Rumpf shows how formerly incarcerated women engaged recovery and faith-based discourses to craft rehabilitated identities, defined in opposition to past identities as "criminal-addicts." While these discourses made it possible for women to carve out spaces of personal protection, growth, and joy, they also promoted individualistic understandings of criminalization and the violence and dehumanization that followed. Honoring criminalized women's stories of personal transformation, Rumpf nevertheless strongly critiques institutions' promotion of narratives that impose lifelong moral judgment while detracting attention from the structural forces of racism, sexism, and poverty that contribute to women's vulnerability to violence"-- Provided by publisher