Developing educational research through a Penal-Lectical assemblage

Bibliographic Data

ID24216604
AuthorsJonathan Glazzard (0000-0002-6144-0013, University of Hull), Scott Thomas (0009-0003-3100-6720, Independent Researcher , ,)
Year2026
Pages1-26
Publication date2026-09-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Research Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1443-9883 • E-ISSN: 1448-0980
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/qrj-06-2026-0293
OpenAlexW7214196729
LanguageEN
References cited66

Purpose This paper explores the methodological dimensions of a prisoner–university academic co-author partnership, advancing co-production as a critical mode of knowledge generation within, against and beyond the carceral environment. Situating the collaboration within post-structural and posthuman scholarship, the paper challenges humanist assumptions about agency, authorship and expertise, instead emphasising relationality, affect and entanglement in the co-production of academic knowledge (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987; Braidotti, 2013) within the context of educational research. Drawing on post-structural and posthuman theory, we introduce the Penal-Lectical Assemblage to represent our interaction with human and non-human entities in the co-production of educational research. In addition, we introduce a methodological framework that could be adopted by academics who are interested in researching and co-authoring with prisoners. The paper outlines the challenges that we encountered, and the tools within the assemblage that we interacted with, to co-produce educational research. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies posthuman theory to co-production between an academic and a prisoner. Findings We analyse the methodological process that we adopted and develop the concept of the Penal-Lectical Assemblage. Research limitations/implications We propose a framework which is designed to support researchers who wish to undertake co-production with prisoners. Practical implications The framework that we propose will support researchers to work in a relational way when undertaking co-production work. Social implications The proposed methodology addresses the concept of epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007) by proposing a methodology which is underpinned by relationality and the democratic principles of academic co-production. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to apply poststructuralist and posthuman concepts to the field of co-production between academics and prisoners. Second, the application of these concepts to co-produced educational research is vastly under-developed. Third, the paper introduces the Penal-Lectical Assemblage, an original methodological framework which represents our approach to the co-production of educational research. Finally, the paper presents a novel framework for co-production which researchers could utilise in other fields.

Affect · educational research methodology · entanglement · epistemic injustice · knowledge co-production · non-human entities · Posthumanism · Poststructuralism · Relationality · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

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