Literacy Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated Women

The narrative-based inquiry presented here creates an enjoyable reading experience as opposed to the rigid informational style of a textbook. Burdick makes a great effort to incorporate the lens of feminist theory when depicting the lived literacy experiences of inmates. She assesses the impact of traditional forms of research that have historically analyzed data from a masculine perspective, thus silencing women’s voices and romanticizing their experiences. Burdick does an excellent job presenting this qualitative research by acknowledging her own voice and experiences in the preface, indicating her awareness of her own positioning in researching and writing this book. This makes the text more substantial from an academic perspective and produces great respect for the author’s research and transparency. Burdick aims to address the oppression of women and a justice system that contributes to this, fueling stigma and shame. She expertly recounts the profound and remarkable transitioning process of the four women this study addresses. The author makes a valuable contribution to feminist literature with this topic. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

* Choice Reviews *

Through reflective feminist methods of narrative inquiry, Dr. Burdick's research invites readers into the lives of women who are formerly incarcerated, pressing them toward the intricacies of lives caught, confined, and released. Her skillful recognition of privileged researcher positionalities in dialogue with participant interviews exemplifies the necessity of paying attention to the complex circumstances that contribute to U.S. mass incarceration and the damage endured by the people, particularly women, whose lives it touches. The literacy sponsorship and transitional narratives by Grace, Lexi, Diane, and Becky offer a rare window into the possibilities of diverse literate activities (e.g. reading, academic writing, social media engagement) to shape and shift life trajectories--and to counternarrative dominant public perceptions of formerly incarcerated people.

-- Tobi Jacobi, Colorado State University

Through skillful narrative inquiry and unerring insight, Melanie Burdick offers us moving portraits of the literate lives of formerly incarcerated women. Burdick insightfully and respectfully traces these women both within and beyond bars as they begin to reclaim their humanity and their place in the world. Her focus on the narratives of justice-involved women and their inextricably intertwined experiences of literacy, incarceration, and re-entry distinguishes this book as a unique and powerful contribution to the field.

-- Deborah Appleman, Carleton College, author of Words No Bars Can Hold: Literacy Learning in Prison

This book contributes to our understanding of a population that remains largely hidden and ignored, challenging us to understand and learn from literacy experiences that have been left out of the stories we tell of incarceration in the U.S., and makes crucial contributions to prison studies, feminist studies, and literacy studies through its examination of the storied literacy experiences of formerly incarcerated women. Beginning with the "literacy acts and absences that are inherent to prisons," Burdick expertly analyzes multiple constructive and destructive literacy sites and sponsors that shape the experiences--and ultimately ways of knowing and telling--of incarcerated women. This is essential reading for teachers and scholars in writing studies broadly interested in "how reading and writing are acts that connect to identity, transition, and both positive and negative visioning and reenvisioning of lived experience," as well as teachers, advocates, and volunteers who seek better ways to sponsor literacy for incarcerated and previously incarcerated people. Burdick's careful and reflective application of narrative inquiry and feminist research methodologies provides a model appropriate for research methodology and qualitative research methods courses more broadly.

-- Wendy Wolters Hinshaw, Florida Atlantic University

Melanie N. Burdick offers a compelling and moving portrait of how four justice-involved women used literacy to challenge problematic stereotypes and rewrite their lives. Guided by narrative inquiry and feminist methods, this book thoughtfully illustrates the powerful potential of prison libraries and librarians and the ways in which educators can support individuals as they forge new identities within and beyond the university.

-- Patrick W. Berry, Syracuse University, author of Doing Time, Writing Lives: Refiguring Literacy and Higher Education in Pr