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Altea Vaccaro

PhD Candidate in Sociology Université Lumière Lyon 2, UMR 5283 Centre Max Weber

Biography

I am a PhD candidate in sociology at Université Lumière Lyon 2, affiliated with the Centre Max Weber (UMR 5283). My research explores the intersection of prison experience, gender relations, and public policy, focusing on how imprisonment reshapes intimacy between partners and, more broadly, conjugal dynamics.

My doctoral dissertation, When Intimacy Comes Under Surveillance: Conjugal Relationships Confronting the Prison Experience in France, Italy, and Spain, examines how different penal policies shape the ways couples maintain or dissolve relationships when one partner is incarcerated. Combining a multi-level analytical framework, macro (legal and policy frameworks), meso (institutional practices), and micro (individual and relational experiences), my work investigates how prisons both produce and transform forms of intimacy.

Methodologically, my research adopts a comparative and ethnographic approach, based on over two years of fieldwork in prisons across France, Italy, and Spain. Through interviews with prisoners, their partners, former detainees, and prison staff, I analyse how carceral institutions and public policies influence conjugal trajectories and gender relations within couples.

More broadly, my interests lie in the sociology of couples and families, carceral studies, gender studies, and the sociology of public policy. My work contributes to understanding how intimacy, care, and control within conjugal dynamics intersect within penal institutions, and how imprisonment negotiates the balance between respect for private life, the punishment and reintegration of the incarcerated, and the security of society.

Selected conference presentations:

Vaccaro, A. (2025, July). Reclaiming the self: The role of incarceration in disrupting coercive control [Conference presentation]. International Sociological Association (ISA) Forum of Sociology, Rabat, Morocco.

Vaccaro, A. (2024, September). Smartphones and detention: A comparative study of the Italian, French, and Spanish cases [Conference presentation]. XIX Seminario nazionale di sociologia del diritto “Silvia Corticelli,” Capraia Isola, Italy.

Vaccaro, A. (2024, July). Gender challenges and conjugal dynamics confronting the prison experience [Conference presentation]. International Congress of Feminist Anthropology, Granada, Spain.

Vaccaro, A. (2024, June). Interviewing both partners separated by incarceration: Methodological challenges [Conference presentation]. Study Day “Restituer les familles: Collecter, analyser, matérialiser,” Paris, France.

Vaccaro, A. (2023, September). The couple confronting the prison experience: Gender and sexual relations within incarcerated couples [Conference presentation]. International Conference “Rethinking Penal Categories through the Social Sciences,” Montreal, Canada.

Vaccaro, A. (2023, July). Incarceration as a turning point in couple trajectories [Conference presentation]. 10th Congress of the French Sociological Association (AFS), Lyon, France.

Vaccaro, A. (2023, January). Redefining the art object collectively: An artist and prisoners creating a sculpture within the penal institution [Conference presentation]. Study Day “Labomobile 5: Methodologies and Experimentations with Objects,” Lyon, France.

Teaching

At the Centre for European and International Studies (CEE), I am currently an Attachée Temporaire d’Enseignement et de Recherche (ATER) at Sciences Po Paris, Campus de Menton, where I teach two undergraduate courses in sociology.

Introduction to Sociology (Conférences de méthode, BA1, in French)
An introduction to the main sociological theories, concepts, and methodological approaches, combining theoretical reflection with empirical analysis. The course trains students in the critical reading of sociological texts and in basic research practices through collective discussions and applied exercises.

Social Science Tools: Applications in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Contexts (Methodological workshop, BA2, in English)
This course introduces both quantitative and qualitative research methods in the social sciences, with a focus on their application to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern contexts. It covers epistemological foundations, methodological choices, and techniques of data collection and analysis through practical exercises and case studies addressing issues such as inequality and deviance.

Before joining Sciences Po, I taught at the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL, Lille) and at the École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’État (ENTPE, Lyon), offering seminars in public policy, epistemology and methodology, and introductory courses in the social sciences. I also gained early teaching experience as a tutor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where I taught applied philosophy for the social sciences.

publications

Higelin, Audrey & Vaccaro, Altea (eds.) (forthcoming, December 2025). Thematic issue “Intimacy and incarceration: how the question has changed, and how it hasn’t”, Champ pénal / Penal Field.

Higelin, Audrey & Vaccaro, Altea (forthcoming, December 2025). “Two Sociologists Confronting Affective and Sexual Relationships in the Carceral Context: The Influence of Researchers’ Gender on Data Collection”, Champ pénal / Penal Field.