Transformative encounters: A pracademic inquiry into breaking through self-isolation in Norway

Abstract

This article explores the epistemological value of pracademic proximity in prison and resettlement research. Through a pracademic, autoethnographic lens, it explores self-isolation in prison, showing how everyday encounters between staff and residents can shape both sentence progression and knowledge production. Drawing on lived experience from correctional practice and academic inquiry, the article demonstrates how powerful moments of proximity can inform pracademic knowledge building and disrupt experiences of isolation. Using creative writing and embedded methodology, it highlights how small relational gestures (‘big, small things’) can be transformative in prison and resettlement contexts. By engaging with the suffering and neglect associated with self-isolation, the article calls for greater attention to relational dynamics in penal environments. Ultimately, it emphasizes the epistemological significance of pracademic contributions in shaping and expanding academic knowledge.