Emotions and gender identity in detention

A performative analysis of the experience of transgender women at Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso

Resumen

This study analyzes the emotional experiences of transgender women detained in section G8 of the Rebibbia New Complex prison, a context that has so far received little scholarly attention in Italy. The research adopts an emotional perspective and an affective dimension as its primary interpretive lens. Emotions—such as anger, fear, jealousy, guilt, and sadness—are not understood as isolated subjective reactions, but as sensitive indicators of the symbolic and normative violence produced by the prison system. Using a qualitative approach and creative narrative tools, including the use of tarot cards, the study explores the emotional dimensions of detention for the group under examination, as well as the everyday practices through which transgender subjectivities attempt to reclaim themselves and their bodies within a highly regulated environment. The aim is to reconstruct the complexity of lived experiences across both micro (cognitive and emotional) and macro (social and cultural) levels, identifying the prison not only as a site of control and constraint, but also as a liminal space in which new narratives, identities, and possibilities for recognition take shape.

Keywords: emotions, transgender people, prison, tarot cards, Rebibbia prison.