ABSTRACT

In response to rising parental incarceration rates, some correctional facilities now offer family literacy and read-aloud programmes to strengthen parent–child bonds. However, the technologies used in these programmes – including older technologies such as audio and video recordings – have received little attention. Parents in the Read to Your Child/Grandchild (RYCG) programme at Pennsylvania state prisons are video recorded reading a book for their child; the book and video recording are then mailed to the child. Drawing on interview and observational data with 11 fathers at a rural prison, this study examines how fathers perceived the possibilities (affordances) of the multimodal videos. RYCG provided the only opportunity to send videos outside the prison. Moreover, the video enabled children to see their parents despite physical distance, captured a more ‘lifelike’ portrait of parents, was lasting and repeatable, and created another line of parent–child interaction. The perceived affordances of video reflected the restrictive prison setting and the desires of incarcerated fathers, including the desire to be recognised as a father and to show their children that they cared. Fathers’ insights underscore the value of examining how people in marginalised educational sites use outmoded, receding technologies to forge new connections with loved ones.

摘要

为了应对父母的入狱率上升，现在一些教养所提供了家庭识字和朗读计划，以加强亲子纽带。但是，这些程序中使用的技术（包括较早的技术，例如音频和视频记录）很少受到关注。宾夕法尼亚州监狱中的“与您的孩子/孙女一起阅读”节目中的父母正在录制视频，以便为他们的孩子阅读一本书；然后将书和录像带邮寄给孩子。这项研究基于对农村监狱中11名父亲的访谈和观察数据，研究了父亲如何看待多模式视频的可能性（负担）。RYCG提供了在监狱外发送视频的唯一机会。此外，该视频使孩子们尽管相距遥远，仍能见到父母，捕捉了更加“栩栩如生”的父母肖像，具有持久性和可重复性，并创造了另一条亲子互动的路线。视频的感知能力反映了限制性的监狱环境和被监禁的父亲的愿望，包括被认可为父亲并向孩子展示自己所关心的愿望。父亲的见解强调了研究边缘化教育场所中的人们如何使用过时的，落后的技术与亲人建立新联系的价值。