Entering the Maze: Space, Time and Exclusion in an Abandoned Northern Ireland Prison

Kindynis, T and Garrett, BL. 2015. Entering the Maze: Space, Time and Exclusion in an Abandoned Northern Ireland Prison. Crime, Media, Culture, 11(1), pp. 5-20. ISSN 1741-6590 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This article is an autoethnographic account of the authors’ trespassing in the abandoned Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. For three decades before its closure in 2000, the Maze was the site of intense political struggle. The ruins of the Maze – a space once built to let no one out that now allows no one in – exist now in a state of limbo, between the conflicting narratives of the prison’s troubled past, and an uncertain future. We present a brief historical account of the Maze, and explain our unconventional choice of ‘research method’, before introducing Foucault’s notion of the heterotopia. We suggest that the Maze is an archetypally heterotopic space and our experience of exploring the prison can equally be described as such.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659014566119

Keywords:

Urban exploration, HMP maze, heterotopia, autoethnography, cultural criminology, visual criminology

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Sociology

Dates:

DateEvent
5 December 2014Accepted
5 February 2015Published Online
1 April 2015Published

Item ID:

23441

Date Deposited:

07 Jun 2018 15:15

Last Modified:

09 Jun 2021 21:32

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/23441

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