Dr Mary Bosworth (September 2004 – July 2005)

Dr Bosworth has been an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University since 2002 and prior to this, held the position of Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fordham University for five years. Dr Bosworth has an international reputation as a gifted scholar in the broad areas of punishment and incarceration. For a relatively young scholar, Dr Bosworth has published widely in a range of impressive outlets. Her 1999 book ‘Engendering Resistance’ is one of the most important books to have been written on women’s’ imprisonment in the past ten years. Similarly her most recent work on the American prison system is very well regarded in the penology world. Dr Bosworth’s research during her visit to Oxford will focus on the intersection between identity, citizenship and punishment. Her research will examine the recent and historical legislation regulating immigration in Britain in order to understand how current polices of detaining non-citizens developed. It will also examine how the treatment of foreigners is shaped by race and class and how current practice legitimates a broader system of punishment and mass imprisonment.