NCJ Number
237239
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2011 Pages: 451-472
Date Published
October 2011
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article reflects on how penal museums in the province of Ontario, Canada, create and communicate meaning as it regards imprisonment and punishment.
Abstract
Contributing to debates about cultural representations of prisons and prisoners, as well as exploring the crossover between the dark tourism literature and cultural criminology, this article reflects on how penal museums in the province of Ontario, Canada, create and communicate meaning as it regards imprisonment and punishment. Drawing from field notes made after observations at penal museums located in central and eastern Ontario cities and towns, the authors contend that penal museum relics offer a polysemy of meaning to viewers, as critical, indifferent and punitive interpretations are possible. Based on analysis of tour guide narratives as well as penal relics, the authors explore how the process of memorialization in many of these museums is organized around the idea of penal reform, which positions imprisonment and punishment as remnants of the past and introduces a social distance between the punished and the penal spectator. (Published Abstract)