After the terrorist attacks in France (2015) and Belgium (2016), radicalisation in Belgian prisons gained tremendous international attention in the public and political debate. In this ethnographic research we aim to explore how the radicalisation discourse impacts current policies and experiences in prison by focusing on 1) the changing role of religion and Islam in particular in current prison policies (macro-level); 2) how Islam is regulated and experienced by prison actors (prison officers, governors and social service actors) (meso-level); 3) how Islam is experienced by Muslim prisoners (micro-level). Although this research starts from radicalization discourses, it will not solely aim to encompass the experiences of radical Muslims but of all prisoners who identify as Muslim. Prison and Muslim masculinity frameworks are used in order to understand how masculinity impacts the above mentioned policies, experiences and interactions. This research makes use of traditional ethnographic (participant observation and semi-structured interviews) and novel methodologies such as digital storytelling. Moreover, the multidisciplinary approach will enrich different research strands within anthropology, criminology, political science, and minority studies.
Biography
Elias Woodbridge is a PhD researcher at both the Department of Political Science and the Department of Criminology at the VUB. Building up to this doctorate study, Elias researched the racialisation of Muslim men living in Flanders which was conducted during his master Gender and Diversity. Prior to this, he acquired a professional bachelor in orthopedagogy where internships were at the core of the course. The educational background in different fields and the interests in religion, diversity and masculinities coincide with the doctorate study that Elias is conducting under guidance and supervision of Prof. Dr. Iman Lechkar and Prof. Dr. An-Sofie Vanhouche.
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(c) Cambridge University. (2019). Muslims leaving prison talk about the layers of their lives [Foto]. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/muslims-leaving-prison-talk-about-the-layers-of-their-lives