The body and its expression: the elevation of the self as other

Abstract

Starting from the diagnosis that prison life is (hyper-)masculinized, we propose a reflection on how, within the prison establishments, there is also space to resist gender stereotypes. Following, through empirical ethnographic research, an artistic intervention project with a group of about ten inmates based on contemporary dance, we intend to demonstrate, from a pragmatist and phenomenological sociological approach, how the body language of dance, the practice of inter-corporeality and the expressive stylization of the movement promote the reformulation of the conventions associated with the feminine stereotype in prisons.