‘Commensality’ as a theatre for witnessing change for criminalised individuals working at a resettlement scheme
| Author | Julie M Parsons |
| DOI | 10.1177/2066220318819239 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/2066220318819239
European Journal of Probation
2018, Vol. 10(3) 182 –198
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/2066220318819239
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‘Commensality’ as a theatre
for witnessing change for
criminalised individuals
working at a resettlement
scheme
Julie M Parsons
University of Plymouth, UK
Abstract
This article draws on analysis of interview data from an exploratory case study at an
independent ‘offender’ resettlement scheme in England, investigating the benefits or
otherwise of commensality for criminalised individuals and the wider community who
share a communal lunchtime meal. For prisoners released on temporary licence and
others referred through probation, caught in the liminal space between criminal and
civilian life, commensality enables social interaction with non-criminalised individuals in
a social environment outside of the prison estate. It becomes an arena for the display
of non-criminalised identities in preparation for release into the community after
punishment. It is a useful tool for social integration that challenges stereotypical beliefs
about criminalised individuals amongst the wider community. Moreover, commensality
works as a theatre for the performance of non-criminalised identities, by promoting
social inclusion and generativity, it is part of a process of desistance geared towards
improving self-worth.
Keywords
Change, food, probation, prisoners, resettlement, sociability
Introduction
This article considers commensality from the Latin cum mensa; in the company of a meal/
table, defined as eating and drinking together in a common physical or social setting
(Fischler, 1980, 1988, 2011; Kerner et al., 2015: 1; Sobal and Nelson, 2003), for promoting
Corresponding author:
Julie M Parsons, School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, UK.
Email: jmparsons@plymouth.ac.uk
819239EJP0010.1177/2066220318819239European Journal of ProbationParsons
2018
Original Article
Parsons 183
social integration and generativity or ‘engagement in practices and behaviours that make a
contribution to the well-being of others’ (Maruna, 2001), which have been identified as
significant in the process of desistance (the cessation from offending) (Maruna, 2001;
Weaver, 2016; Weaver and Weaver, 2013). Moreover, commensality as practiced at the
resettlement scheme (RS) where the research took place is pure sociability or ‘association
for its own sake’ (Simmel and Hughes, 1949: 254), that arguably ‘enhances human growth
and social wellbeing by generating a sense of cooperation, commonality and belonging’
(Anderson, 2015: 103). Commensality in this instance, brings together what might be con-
sidered disparate social groups; prisoners, offenders and the wider community in an effort
to challenge widely held negative stereotypes of prisoners/offenders and to give them the
opportunity to perform non-prisoner/offender identities in a non-prison setting, crucially
outside of the prison estate. It draws on notions of sociability (Simmel, 1997 [1910]), social
capital (Bourdieu, 1984) and social interactionism (Goffman, 1959) in which a sense of self
is built up through social interaction, with front and backstage processes at work. This is
considered in the context of desistance and processes of ‘making good’ (Maruna, 2001).
Commensality, therefore, is a useful means of symbolising social acceptance for those
on the margins and in a nod to Goffman’s (1959) dramaturgical model, I argue that it pro-
vides a theatre for the performance of imaginary future selves for criminalised individuals
(Hunter and Farrall, 2018). This is not to assume that selves are fixed or stable, but that they
emerge through processes of social interaction in a ‘social space that is not occupied but
made’ (Ivana, 2018: 57). Moreover, as Hunter and Farrell (2018: 292) point out, following
Butler (2004: 44), ‘individuals embarking on change request recognition of their ability to
change, it is a recognition of their ability to change, which they seek’. This is especially
pertinent when working with criminalised individuals, as they remain one of the ‘the most
vilified, marginalised and excluded social groups’ (McNeill and Weaver, 2010 :28). This
‘master status’ (Goffman, 1963) can mitigate against successful resettlement into the com-
munity after punishment. Commensality therefore becomes a theatre for the possibilities of
performing and re-forming non-prisoner/offender identities, with imaginary future selves
co-produced through social and symbolic connections made between prisoners/offenders
and non-offenders. Hence, the operationalising and legitimising of social capital both real
and imagined is co-produced, with connections working both ways.
Prior to discussing the findings, the context of the study will be explored in terms of
commensality and how it is currently practiced (or not) in prisons in England and Wales,
as well as processes of desistance. The overriding premise is that commensality or the
social act of sharing a lunchtime meal can engender social acceptance, influence social
attitudes, and work as a witness for change. The core argument is that commensality aids
in the development of pro-social identities, in a non-prison (institutional) environment,
as part of a process of desistance geared towards improving self-worth and gaining a
‘stake in conformity’ (McNeill and Weaver, 2010: 54).
Context and background
Commensality and prison
It is argued that commensality brings people together in an ‘act of table fellowship’
(Coveney, 2006), that fosters a sense of solidarity (Fischler, 2011; Grignon, 2001),
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