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Please Join the Toronto Women's Bookstore and Routledge as we celebrate the launch of:

Reviews of Global Lockdown:

"An original, smart, and provocative volume, Global Lockdown makes a compelling case for the convergence of abolitionist prison and anti-globalization work in the age of global capitalism, neoliberalism, and U.S. economic and political hegemony, An urgent wake-up call for scholars, activists and social justice workers, the contributors to this volume craft a visionary and wide-ranging anti-racist, transnational feminist praxis. A critical book for these critical times. "

At a moment when most studies of the prison industrial complex focus on men, rarely get outside of the United States, and are dominated by scholars and journalists, Global Lockdown is a breath of fresh air. Julia Sudbury opens up the dialogue by bringing together a truly international gathering of activist-intellectuals, many of whom know prisons and the criminal justice systems first-hand, experienced state and interpersonal violence, and/or have spent much of their lives on the frontlines of the abolitionist movement. But Global Lockdown doesn’t simply tell stories of other carceral regimes around the world; rather, it offers brilliant and penetrating analyses of the links between the prison-industrial complex, globalization, neoliberalism, and U.S. empire -- connections made even more evident by their focus on women. In doing so, these authors teach us that we must extend our sights beyond the nation and the prison itself and take on the beast: global capital.

This collection of original essays signifies a major breakthrough in the literature on imprisoned women. As editor Julia Sudbury and her contributors powerfully demonstrate, globalization has intensified the political assault on women who lack social protections -- due to class, ethnic, gendered and racialized inequalities. Riveting narratives and persuasive analyses are offered by women from South Africa, the USA, Jamaica, Canada, Nepal, Australia, Mexico, Britain, Pakistan, Italy, Colombia, Portugal, Nigeria and Palestine. This dynamic book is well documented and beautifully edited. The essays raise serious questions about the viability of prisons, even as states and corporations are building more of them. Accounts of women's strategies of resistance are instructive, and give hope that justice can be realized. The authors are first rate, including activists, prisoners and scholars, and they are convincing. Writing from widely diverse experience and vantage points, they converge in their commitment to dismantle the cages.

"Julia Sudbury’s powerful and persuasive edited volume, Global Lockdown, outlines in striking detail how prisons have become the international warehouses for oppressing women. Global Lockdown contains a brilliant collection of well researched, expertly documented accounts drawn from case studies involving women from a wide variety of contexts. Sudbury and her contributors have established in this work an exceptional resource for understanding the new political economy of criminal injustice that today undermines democratic institutions and disempowers women of color across the Global South."

Contributors:

Asale Angel-Ajani, Lisa Neve, Kim Pate, Kamala Kempadoo, Robbie Kina, Beth Richie, Shahnaz Kahn, Kemba Smith, Cristina Jose-Kampfner, Naomi Murakawa, Rebecca Bohrman, Juanita Diaz-Cotto, Manuela Ivone Pereira da Cunha, Biko Agozino, Elham Bayour, Linda Evans, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Lisa Vetten, Kailash Bhana, Melissa Upreti, Debbie Kilroy.

For more info contact:

Toronto Women's Bookstore.
73 Harbord Street.
Phone: 416 922 8744.
Email: events@womensbookstore.com

Other Social Justice Events at the University of Toronto

• Transnationality, Gender and Citizenship Public Lecture Series 2004-05

• Aboriginal Studies Lecture Series