Doing Research in Difficult Places: Prison
Episode Description
In this episode of Talking about Methods, Professor Linda Mulcahy talks to Associate Professor Carolyn McKay about doing research in difficult places, such as prisons. They talk about the importance of understanding the sounds and materiality of carceral spaces, the painful experience of transcribing interviews, issues of informed consent in custodial settings and why it is important to study hard-to-access places such as prisons.
Readings recommended by Carolyn McKay
- Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by A. Sheridan. London: Penguin.
- Herrity, K., Schmidt, B. E. and Warr, J. (eds.) (2021) Sensory Penalities: Exploring the Senses in Spaces of Punishment and Social Control. Bingley: Emerald Publishing.
- Paasche, M. and Radul, J. (eds.) (2011) A Thousand Eyes: Media Technology, Law and Aesthetics. London: Sternberg Press
- Also mentioned: Research on prisons by Jewkes, Y.; Liebling, A. and Crewe, B.
Carolyn McKay’s Work
- McKay, C (2018) The Pixelated Prisoner: Prison Video Links, Court ‘Appearance’ and the Justice Matrix. Oxon: Routledge.
- McKay, C. (2018) ‘Video Links from Prison: Court “Appearance” within Carceral Space.’ Law, Culture and the Humanities, 14(2), 242-262.
About the Speaker
Carolyn McKay
Associate Professor Carolyn McKay is recognised for her research into technologies in criminal justice. She is currently completing an Australian Research Council DECRA: 'The Digital Criminal Justice Project: Vulnerability and the Digital Subject', and finalising a related book manuscript: 'Digital Vulnerability in Criminal Justice: Vulnerable people and communication technologies' (Palgrave Pivot, forthcoming 2025). Her earlier monograph, ‘The Pixelated Prisoner: Prison video links, court ‘appearance’ and the justice matrix’ (Routledge, 2018) was based on her PhD thesis.