Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
Maria De Angelis
Leeds Beckett University, UK
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother
Statement of the Problem & Theoretical Orientation: With 4,000 people daily entering immigration detention, the UK�s administration of global migrants is one of the most coercive in Western Europe. Described by many as worse than prison, the �Rebuilding Lives� study explores both how IRC detainees experience Agamben�s (1998) bare life and how they deploy a Foucauldian critical attitude (1997) to reclaim a sense of gendered, cultural, mental and spiritual well-being inside detention. Methodology: Since the doors of the IRC remain typically shut to outsiders, this qualitative study brings a perspective from the lived experiences of fifteen ex-detainees living in the same British city during 2016. The use of a demographic questionnaire, combined with in-depth semi-structured interviews, produced detailed accounts for comparative and converse coding. Findings: Bare life is painfully inscribed on the body through institutional practices which refuse non-citizens access to health care. Bare life is violently inscribed on the mind in the form of night terrors, suicidal thoughts and self-harming practices, aggravated by the lack of an upper time limit on detention and deportation. Conversely, micro-transgressions around food forge a pathway to gendered and cultural identity beyond the deportable body. Similarly, spiritual practices (with all faiths requiring love, care and respect of �other�) transcend human and religious differences, posing a challenge to unethical and uncaring governance. Conclusion & Significance: A key difference between detention and prison surrounds cultural and religious diversity. Engaging with these re-connects society with moral and philosophical questions which affect our shared humanity.
Maria De Angelis is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology. Her pedagogy and research foreground the relationship between criminal justice and social policy responses. She is presently conducting empirical inquiry in the field of crimigration–researching dis/empowerment in migrant women’s experiences of immigration detention and the impact of self, policy and community in rebuilding lives. The Rebuilding Lives project contributes to achieving a University of Sanctuary status for her university. She also supervises a number of Undergraduate and Postgraduate students across a diverse range of topics including female offenders, forced marriage, immigration, and people trafficking. She is an active member of the women, crime and criminal justice network (British Society of Criminology) and the Wilberforce Institute of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE).
E-mail: m.de-angelis@leedsbeckett.ac.uk