Published: March 28, 2023

These events are part of the Department of Women & Gender Studies’ Feminist Abolitionist Futures series, which will offer three semesters of programming dedicated to exploring abolition as both a vision and a set of practices.

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition

A talk by Dr. Liat Ben-Moshe

Tuesday, April 18th 5pm
Center for British and Irish Studies, 5th floorNorlin Library
and via Zoom
Recent scholarship and activism paint a troubling picture of mass incarceration. But disability and madness and their histories of oppression and resistance are largely missing from this analysis. For example- the erasure of the most massive exodus of people from carceral spaces in the U.S., deinstitutionalization. In contrast, Dr. Ben-Moshe shows how disability/mad knowledges and histories should inform analysis of the abolition of prisons, jails, psychiatric hospitals and disability residential institutions for the liberation of us all.

Liat the Speaker: Liat Ben-Moshe is an interdisciplinary scholar-activist working at the intersection of disability/madness, incarceration/decarceration and abolition. She is the author ofDecarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition (University of Minnesota Press 2020) and co-editor (with Allison Carey and Chris Chapman) ofDisability Incarcerated: Imprisonment and Disability in the United States and Canada(Palgrave 2014). Dr. Ben-Moshe is an Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For more:

This event will also be broadcast as a webinar. To attend virtually click here

Abolition, Feminism, and Disability:A One Read Event

Thursday, April 13th 3:30-4:45pm
Gates Woodruff Cottage Reading Room
Our inaugural eventbrings together undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty to discuss two readings about abolition:
  • by Liat Ben-Moshe (specifically the introduction, pgs. 1-36)
  • By Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie (specifically chapter 1 “Abolition,” pgs. 26-49)
Both readings are available through Library and a limited number of copies ofAbolition. Feminism. Now.are available to check out from theWomen and Gender Studies Reading Room. If you cannot access the readings, please emailsoaresk@colorado.edufor accessible PDFs.
The event will be organized as an informal reading group. Participants are invited to contribute to the conversation or to simply listen. Snacks will be provided and all are welcome.
Please RSVP for the One Read event.
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The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to providing equal access to individuals with disabilities.Individuals who require accommodation for either event should contact wgst@colorado.eduat least two weeks in advance of the event so that the appropriate arrangements can be made.