Words No Bars Can Hold, Deborah Appleman
Words No Bars Can Hold, Deborah Appleman
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Words No Bars Can Hold
Literacy Learning in Prison

Author: Deborah Appleman, Jimmy Santiago Baca

Narrator: Virginia Wolf

Unabridged: 5 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/18/2019


Synopsis

Incarcerated bodies, liberated minds: a narrative of literacy education behind bars.

Words No Bars Can Hold provides a rare glimpse into literacy learning under the most dehumanizing conditions. Deborah Appleman chronicles her work teaching college-level classes at a high-security prison for men, most of whom are serving life sentences. Through narrative, poetry, memoir, and fiction, the students in Appleman's classes attempt to write themselves back into a society that has erased their lived histories.

The students' work, through which they probe and develop their identities as readers and writers, illuminates the transformative power of literacy. Appleman argues for the importance of educating the incarcerated, and explores ways to interrupt the increasingly common journey from urban schools to our nation's prisons. From the sobering endpoint of what scholars have called the "school to prison pipeline," she draws insight from the narratives and experiences of those who have traveled it.

About Deborah Appleman

Deborah Appleman lives in Minnesota and is the Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies and director of the summer writing program at Carleton College. Since 2007, she has taught language, literature, and creative writing courses at a high-security prison for men in the upper Midwest.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tanya on December 30, 2019

Appleman is doing the good work and trying to let it teach her as much as she teaches in it. This book makes an effort to cross the academic/public space, to make clear the urgency of prison and education reform, and to show herself as both agentive and receptive.......more

Goodreads review by Owen on January 11, 2021

This book does a good job balancing the words of incarcerated students and analysis of the issues of literacy learning in prisons. I’m using two chapters of it for my Theories of Justice and Incarceration class.......more

Goodreads review by Karin on July 06, 2019

I've seen Deborah Appleman present at conferences before and love her work. This book gives me greater appreciation of her, as well as other educators, who work within the prison system. Appleman is careful not to portray literacy as a panacea to violent crime, but it does play an important role. Th......more

Goodreads review by Jim on October 07, 2019

What place should literacy claim in the lives of prisoners who have little if any chance of release? How can the teaching of critical reading and creative writing enhance the lived lives of those prisoners? What outcomes can be expected? How will we know that we are making a meaningful difference in......more

Goodreads review by Krista on April 02, 2020

Your next book club pick. This book should be read, discussed and kept on your shelf. Appleman, a highly accomplished college professor delivers a book that pulls us right into the world of our incarceration system and invokes us to reconsider how we view the criminals and their level of humanity. W......more