Abstract
M.A.
Prisons in the South African context are considered to be places of correction for deviant
individuals. The perception of the functioning of a correctional space is the correction of a
particular type of functioning and the construction of another. One of the underlying
assumptions of a penal system is the notion of a subject who is able to undergo a process of normalisation. This dissertation is directed towards the exploration of a different type of space that has been created within the correctional system at the Diepkloof Prison. It will be suggested herein that creative workshops, run within the prison by an outside facilitator, have succeeded in subverting the normalising discourse of the penal system, and have helped to facilitate a different type of healing experience within the confines of the institutional space.
In order to place the discussion of the workshopping process within a sound theoretical
framework, various theoretical questions regarding the shift from modernist to postmodern
psychology are explored in some depth. It will be argued that the ideas emerging from social constructionist and narrative psychology, deconstructionist notions of language and
subjectivity, as well as post-structuralist ideas on disciplinary power, offer a theoretical
framework from within which to understand the healing process that occurs in the workshops themselves.