AreWeReadyfor"School"Abolition?:LessonsandChallengesfromPrisonAbolitionists

DavidOmotosoStovall,ProfessorEducationPolicyStudiesandAfricanAmericanStudies

UniversityofIllinoisatChicago

Monday,April30,201812:00–1:15pm,Education2010

Abstract: Prison abolitionist scholarsAngela Davis, RuthGillmore,DylanRodriguez andEricaMeinerschallenge us to rethink the utility of carceral state-sanctioned violence in the form ofincarceration. Because theUnitedStatesover-incarcerates itspopulace, thepurposeof theprison iscenteredinthecontinuedsubjugationofhistoricallymarginalizedanddispossessedpopulations.Asthecountrywith thehighest proportionalandactual numbersof incarceratedpersons,Stovall isaskingasimilarquestionofthedifferencebetween"school"andeducation.If"school"inurbancentersformanypoorBlackandBrownpopulationsismiredindraconianorder,compliance,andstandardizedtests(noneofwhichconstitutelearning),thenwhatcanbelearnedfromprisonabolitionistsintermsoftheabolitionof theconditions that dehumanize thesepopulations? Ifeducationallowsus toaskquestionsof thepurposeandfunctionofthe"school",thenthereissomethingtobelearnedfromthoseworkingtoendthePrisonNation.

Bio:DavidOmotosoStovall isaprofessorofEducationalPolicyStudiesandAfrican-AmericanStudies.Hestudiestheinfluenceofraceinurbaneducation,communitydevelopment,andhousingand investigates thesignificanceofraceinthequalityofschoolslocatedincommunitiesthatare changing both racially and economically. From a practical andtheoretical perspective, his research draws from Critical Race Theory,educationalpolicyanalysis,sociology,urbanplanning,politicalscience,communityorganizing,andyouthculture.SincehisarrivalatUIC,Stovallhasbeenworkingwithyouth,communityorganizationsandschools inChicago,NewYorkCityandtheSanFranciscoBayArea.FurtheringhisattempttoconnectKto12anduniversityspaces,StovallalsoservesasavolunteersocialstudiesteacherattheLawndaleLittleVillageSchoolofSocialJustice.