ABSTRACT
Literacy has long been tied to enslavement and domination, but also the abolition of institutions and systems of domination. This chapter surveys literacy theory and practice connected to carceral logics and the carceral continuum, with antiblackness and white supremacy as the contemporary underlying ideologies, and abolitionist literacies working against them. Recognizing that abolition is not a singular movement or approach, we cover writing from a number of areas including intersectionality and Black feminism; literacy praxis with the incarcerated and against racist policing; policing and discipline in schools; and around punitive school testing and sorting with their roots in eugenics. We maintain that literacy praxis not directly supporting abolition and collective liberation works in the service of captivity and domination, and close offering an abolitionist imaginary as a way forward for critical literacy.
