Sav Evans

Sav Evans (they/them) excavates short-form writings by political prisoners to expose the contradictions of U.S. democracy. Sav utilizes zines as primary documents to demonstrate the necessity of including the work of political prisoners in broader networks of knowledge on the Black Radical Tradition, Cultural Studies and Theory, Feminist and Queer Studies, and so on. Their interdisciplinary work is rooted in questions concerning the U.S. carceral regime as a state project rooted in ideologies of domination, fascism, and counterinsurgent warfare. Sav looks toward Black Feminist scholarship on archives and archiving, while also integrating the cultural studies methodology of “history from below.” Right now, they are most interested in the poetic writings and artwork by political prisoners in solidarity with international liberation struggles, particularly that of Palestinian liberation.

Sav is co-chair of Stanford Humanities Center Graduate Workshop, the Critical Carceral Studies Collective, where they, along with co-chair Rachel Broun, invite activists, organizers, imprisoned writers, and scholars to increase Stanford’s engagement with discussions on prison and police abolitionism. They hold a BA in History and Judaic Studies (University of Oregon, ‘19) and an MA in American Studies (Columbia, ‘23). Their master’s thesis is titled: “The Oppositional Force of Zines: How Political Prisoners Use Short-Form Writing to Practice Abolition”.