2024 Annual Report Update: Carceral State Reading Group

In 2023–2024, the Carceral State Reading Group served as a vital space for dialogue on captivity and repression, engaging with local and global crises. Anchored by Brown’s acquisition of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s archive, the group hosted a public symposium exploring resistance, political imprisonment, and organizing, with lasting materials now available for continued learning and action.

Pendleton 2 Defense Committee members Too Black and TheKingTrill and Stop Torture RI member Brandon Robinson speaking to the audience during the panel discussion following the screening of “They Stood Up,” on March 9, 2024.
*Credit: Justin Lang*

The 2023–2024 Carceral State Reading Group renewed its purpose as a space for critical reflection and honest conversation amid several local, national, and global crises related to the group’s focus on contemporary conditions of captivity and carceral power. The university’s acquisition of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s archive provided a lens through which we examined ongoing practices of criminalizing and repressing dissent. The group contributed to public conversation with a symposium titled “[Autonomy] Amid Fascism” on March 8–9, 2024, featuring a seminar with Professor Felicia Denaud on “western fundamentalism,” a discussion between authors William C. Anderson and Ashani Alston on contemporary organizing, and a screening of “The Pendleton 2: They Stood Up,” a documentary on the case of Naeem Trotter and Balagoon Cole, currently held political prisoners in Indiana DOC. Recordings and transcriptions of the event will continue to serve as resources for discussion, calls to action, and archives of this historical moment.