Days and nights in tamara – Prisons and tensions about gender in conversations with the “women of prisoners”

Abstract

In this study I propose a theoretical-methodological reflection on prison research from the "outside". I argue that people (mostly women) who visit spouses and sons deprived of their liberty are crucial to shaping prisons outside their walls. The relationships that "women of prisoners" establish with their family members, produced and mediated by the prison, demand that they cross prison boundaries to supply prisoners with food, clothing, care and information. This process involves movements between cities, solidarity networks, trust, suspicion and discussions that take place on the lines to enter the prison and in the rooming houses where women stay during the visiting period. The field research that informs the article took place at one of these lodgings and at the prison gate, contributing to the perspective that analysis of prisons should consider movements on the "outside". Conversations between women, visitors and the anthropologist also indicate gender and sexuality articulations in relation to the ethnographic challenges that involve the many tensions in the field.