Trans architecture and the prison as archive: “don’t be a queen and you won’t be arrested”

Published date01 July 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221087058
AuthorTait Sanders,Jessica Gildersleeve,Sherree Halliwell,Carol du Plessis,Kirsty A Clark,Jaclyn MW Hughto,Amy B Mullens,Tania M Phillips,Kirstie Daken,Annette Brömdal
Date01 July 2023
Trans architecture and the
prison as archive: dontbe
a queen and you wontbe
arrested
Tait Sanders
School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health, Engineering
and Sciences, Centre for Health Research, Institute for Resilient
Regions, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Jessica Gildersleeve
School of Humanities and Communication, Faculty of Business,
Education, Law and Arts, Centre for Health Research, Institute for
Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Sherree Halliwell
School of Humanities and Communication, Faculty of Business,
Education, Law and Arts, Centre for Health Research, Institute for
Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Carol du Plessis
School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health, Engineering
and Sciences, Centre for Health Research, Institute for Resilient
Regions, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Kirsty A Clark
Department of Medicine, Health & Society, Vanderbilt
University, Tennessee, USA
Jaclyn MW Hughto
Departments of Behavioral and Social Sciences and
Epidemiology, Brown School of Public Health, Centre for Health
Equity Research, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA
Amy B Mullens
School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health,
Engineering and Sciences, Centre for Health Research, Institute
for Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland,
Australia
Article
Punishment & Society
2023, Vol. 25(3) 742765
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14624745221087058
journals.sagepub.com/home/pun
Tania M Phillips
School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health,
Engineering and Sciences, Centre for Health Research, Institute
for Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland,
Australia
Kirstie Daken
School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health,
Engineering and Sciences, Centre for Health Research, Institute
for Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland,
Australia
Annette Brömdal
School of Education, Faculty of Business, Education, Law and
Arts, Centre for Health Research, Institute for Resilient Regions,
University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Abstract
Most incarceration settings around the world are governed by strong cisnormative
policies, architectures, and social expectations that segregate according to a persons
legal gender (i.e. male or female). This paper draws on the lived experiences of 24 for-
merly incarcerated trans women in Australia and the U.S. to elucidate the way in which
the prison functions according to Lucas Crawfords theory of trans architecture, alongside
Jacques Derridas notion of archive fever. The paper displays how the cisnormative arch-
ive of the justice system and its architectural constructs impact trans women in mens
incarceration settings, including how trans women entering the incarceration setting
are able to embody gender in a way that is not reif‌ied by the insistences of those nor-
mative structures. In light of this, this paper advances a theoretical understanding of the
prison as an archive and as an architectural construct, providing a new means of under-
standing how incarcerated trans persons may use and perform gender to survive
carceral violence.
Keywords
trans women, incarceration, prison, archive fever, trans architecture
Corresponding author:
Tait Sanders, School of Psychology and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, Centre for
Health Research, Institute for Resilient Regions, University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich, Queensland,
4305, Australia.
Email: tait.sanders@usq.edu.au
Sanders et al. 743

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