Faculty Colloquium Series: Michael Collins (ENG) 11/9/2021
“Poetry and the Prison Industrial Complex“
Tuesday, November 9, 2021 | 4-5pm
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Zoom Meeting information:
Meeting ID: 910 2139 3343
Password: Collins
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Dr. Michael Collins
Professor, English, 2021-22 Glasscock Internal Faculty Residential Fellow
Abstract:
The rise of the prison industrial complex between the 1970s and the 1990s had a devastating effect on
the African American community. By 2008, largely due to the racially-skewed “war on drugs,”2.3 million
Americans were in prison, and, while one in 30 men were inmates, one in 9 African American young men
were behind bars. This paper investigates some of the reasons for this by exploring the prehistory of the
prison industrial complex as that prehistory is reflected in the lives and works of poets Etheridge Knight
and Bob Kaufman. Poetry, Collins argues, has a way of illuminating both private and social madness, and there
is no madness like the madness of the prison industrial complex.
The Faculty Colloquium offers faculty an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.
The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.
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