Emotional Governmentality and the Ordeal of the Body in Prison: Reading of the Former Gwangju Prison Space through Emotional Sociology

This study conceptualizes the prison as a complex intersection of order and violence, examining the specific modes of corporeality and emotional structures generated when this space converges with the human body. By elucidating the spatial arrangements of the prison and the power dynamics therein, this research explores how such structures calibrate inmate emotions and, consequently, how the body is "produced." The prison serves as a paradoxical site that demands a rigorous system of order while simultaneously necessitating the mobilization of extreme violence to enforce it. This paradox is imprinted upon the bodies and affects of inmates, reconstructing the human form as a hybrid of order and violence. Through an analysis of the prison as a mirror reflecting broader societal structures, this paper seeks to reveal the ruthless violence underlying the surface of tranquil order. Methodologically, the study employs an interpretive understanding of space, focusing on photographic and video documentation collected during a field survey of the former Gwangju Prison. The findings suggest that the prison generates specific emotional structures through a process of dismantling and rupturing the inmate’s body. As these bodies are reorganized, they are repeatedly re-exposed to and imprinted with violence. Bodies that have internalized violence through disciplinary mechanisms undergo emotional experiences fundamentally distinct from those in the outside world. In the carceral environment, acts typically shielded by privacy are forcibly made public. Ultimately, the prison compels a reorganization of the self through shame, humiliation, and fear. This constitutes the prison’s mode of emotional governmentality, subjecting the body to an ordeal that remains perpetually shadowed by violence.