The Journal of Extreme Anthropology invites contributions for a special issue dedicated to exploring the phenomenon of institutional escapes. This issue aims to unpack the multifaceted dimensions of breaking away from institutional life, examining the experiences, practices, and imaginations of individuals who attempt to evade, resist, or transform institutional boundaries.
The Journal of Extreme Anthropology invites contributions for a special issue dedicated to exploring the phenomenon of institutional escapes. This issue aims to unpack the multifaceted dimensions of breaking away from institutional life, examining the experiences, practices, and imaginations of individuals who attempt to evade, resist, or transform institutional boundaries.
Invited contributions
This special issue invites contributions based on ethnographic, or other qualitative research methods, that offer novel ways of understanding escapes, running away, absconding, self-placement and similar phenomena related to institutional lives.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- The lived experiences of being ‘on the run’
- Critical analysis of institutional reasoning (and language) in relation to concepts such as runaways, absconding, self-placement and more
- The co-existence of resistance and complicity within institutional settings
- Repetitive escapes as ordinary and embedded practices
- Emotional and relational dimensions of escaping (hope, fear, solidarity)
- Escapes as creative practices or forms of protest
- Conceptualizing the boundaries of institutions through escapes
- Methodological approaches to studying escapes ethnographically
We also invite other (auto-)ethnographic reflections and experimental submissions (photo essays, interviews, creative writing, etc.) that capture the nuanced and often contradictory dynamics of institutional escapes.
More information
Published by Saskia Butler. Date: 8. January 2025.