Shain Morisse | Associate Postgraduate
Home Institution
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Université Paris-Saclay, CESDIP
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Position
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PhD candidate in Political Science
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Disciplines
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Political Science
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Biography
After completing a double bachelor’s degree in history and political science (University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne), a master's degree in modern history (Paris I / Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay), and a pre-PhD research year at the CMB as part of the ANR/DFG Comparative Penal Cultures project (dir. Fabien Jobard), I am, since the end of 2019, PhD candidate in political science (University of Paris-Saclay / Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur le Droit et les Institutions Pénales).
I joined the CMB in the summer of 2021 as part of a CIERA mobility grant, and then, from the end of 2021, as an associate postgraduate.
Title of thesis
Towards a social and transnational history of penal abolitionist ideas and mobilisations in Europe (1960s-2010s).Summary of thesis
My work aims to write a social and transnational history of ideas and movements around penal abolitionism in Europe, from the 1960s to the 2010s. At the crossroads of academic and activist fields, penal abolitionism is a theoretical perspective and a social movement that is engaged both in resisting and contesting penal rationales, policies and practices, and in promoting alternative forms of social regulation.
From a perspective of the social history of political ideas, I attempt to analyse the social and political mechanisms of production, circulation and reception of abolitionist ideas. From the perspective of the sociology of social movements, I study the organised collective action aimed at constructing the very existence of the prison and the criminal justice system as a public problem, and at pushing for an alternative framing of social reality that implies other kinds of political solutions
Focusing mainly on a number of countries where penal abolitionism has been most active (Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom), I try to develop this history on the basis of an analysis of abolitionist literature, activist groups’ archives and semi-structured interviews held with various actors (activists, intellectuals, cultural intermediaries) who have participated in the controversy surrounding abolitionism.
Institution of thesis
Supervisor
Towards a social and transnational history of penal abolitionist ideas and mobilisations in Europe (1960s-2010s).
My work aims to write a social and transnational history of ideas and movements around penal abolitionism in Europe, from the 1960s to the 2010s. At the crossroads of academic and activist fields, penal abolitionism is a theoretical perspective and a social movement that is engaged both in resisting and contesting penal rationales, policies and practices, and in promoting alternative forms of social regulation.
From a perspective of the social history of political ideas, I attempt to analyse the social and political mechanisms of production, circulation and reception of abolitionist ideas. From the perspective of the sociology of social movements, I study the organised collective action aimed at constructing the very existence of the prison and the criminal justice system as a public problem, and at pushing for an alternative framing of social reality that implies other kinds of political solutions
Focusing mainly on a number of countries where penal abolitionism has been most active (Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom), I try to develop this history on the basis of an analysis of abolitionist literature, activist groups’ archives and semi-structured interviews held with various actors (activists, intellectuals, cultural intermediaries) who have participated in the controversy surrounding abolitionism.