Candice Delmas on “‘The Last Thing Left’: Self-Destructive Resistance in Prison”

In this talk, I develop a philosophical account of self-destructive resistance, which I understand as the deliberate infliction of harm on one’s own body—through practices such as hunger strikes, dirty protests, self-cutting, and self-immolation—to protest injustice, protect basic interests, or resist oppressive conditions. Acts of self-destructive resistance are pervasive in carceral settings and routinely suppressed under the guise of “suicide prevention.” Authorities tend to depoliticize and pathologize self-destructive resistance, classifying it as self-harm, and subjecting those who engage in them to coercive “therapeutic” measures including solitary confinement. Prevailing efforts in medical ethics and the social sciences to de-pathologize these practices are inadequate. They often rest on sanist assumptions, rely on a false dichotomy between protest and pathology, and struggle to make sense of desperate or seemingly futile acts. Against these approaches, I argue that the pathological valence of some forms of self-destructive resistance should not be explained away; rather, it registers the very harms inflicted by carceral institutions. To make this case, I develop a pathogenesis of the prison, showing how incarceration systematically erodes agency and forecloses meaningful avenues of legal redress. I then analyze self-destructive resistance through the concept of bodily self-objectification, distinguishing its modalities while highlighting its common protective function. Even when materially futile, such acts can constitute form-fitting responses that both represent and magnify the egregious conditions of carceral domination.

Candice Delmas (Northeastern University)

To join the session on Teams, please get in touch with Maria Grazia Rossi at mgrazia.rossi@fcsh.unl.pt.

This event is part of the ArgLab Research Colloquium organised by Maria Grazia Rossi, Giulia Terzian and Alberto Oya at the Laboratory of Argumentation, Cognition and Language of the NOVA Institute of Philosophy. For any inquiries, please contact Maria Grazia, Giulia or Alberto.