Veerkracht achter tralies

Resilience behind bars. Emotional practices in the prisons of Rotterdam and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, 1800-1830

This article focuses on the emotional resilience of prisoners that affected both the prison community and their personal selves by using sources from the prison archives of Rotterdam and ‘s-Hertogenbosch from the years 1800-1830. Concentrating on emotional practices of fear, sadness, and anger, this contribution problematizes the idea of the passive and powerless prisoner. Moreover, it aims to show that prisoners were a small power within the nineteenth-century prison by examining the relationship between resilience, emotions, and agency.