Call for Papers | Vol. 12, N.º 1 | Surveillance With, Beyond, and Against the Biometric Body

2024-11-20

Editors: Ece Canlı (CECS, Universidade do Minho, Portugal) and Pedro Vieira de Oliveira (Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany)

Surveillance, as one of the most contentious ethical, socio-political, legal, and technological issues of the 21st century, has not only become a much-debated topic in new media in the last decades but also paved the way for the establishment of new academic fields, such as surveillance studies (Ball, Haggerty & Lyon 2012; Monahan & Wood 2018) and creative genres like surveillance art – also known as ‘artveillance’ (Brighenti 2010; Monahan 2017). On the one hand, surveillance technologies are often presented in prevailing governmental and corporate discourse through a techno-humanist lens, advocating their potential to optimise traffic flow, increase workplace productivity, enhance security and public safety, and prevent crime. On the other hand, as critical scholars, researchers and human/data rights activists have long demonstrated, the use of these devices and systems poses significant risks not only for individuals but also for communities, especially for those who are constantly monitored, controlled, profiled, and criminalised due to their race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, migration or legal status (Browne 2016; Kafer & Grinberg 2019; Keshavarz 2024; Saltes 2013). Erosion of privacy, the potential misuse of personal data, the risk of misidentification, the decrease of human oversight and critical thinking in decision-making processes, and the curtailment of free expression under constant monitoring – which would intensify a culture of fear – are also concerns raised. 

This debate has significantly broadened with the rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, which has incited a new ‘surveillant assemblage’ (Haggerty & Ericson 2000), where a decentralised network of surveillance technologies collectively monitors, analyses and acts on personal data, to the point that bodies and their data have become the primary currency of this all-pervading machine. This omnipresent surveillance gaze penetrates not only private and public spaces but also the boundaries of the body, transforming it into a sociotechnical composite. Moreover, the commodification of personal data in this new paradigm of ‘surveillance capitalism’ (Zuboff 2019) shapes bodies, individual behaviours and social relations so dramatically that it entails an ever-evolving reading, unpacking and analysis.

This special issue, therefore, seeks to critically explore the role of surveillance technologies and their material impacts on monitored, categorised, and profiled individuals and their physical, social, cultural, and political bodies. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions (research articles, interviews, and book reviews) in the intersection of cultural studies with sociology, criminology, Science and Technology Studies, arts, media studies, sound studies, legal studies, political science, literature, and related fields. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Genealogies and minor histories of surveillance technologies and their shifting consequences on individuals and societies;
  • Physical, cognitive, mental and affective impacts of surveillance on the body; 
  • Biometric technologies (e.g., fingerprint, iris scans, DNA, and facial, voice, speech and dialect recognition) and their role in policing, profiling and criminalising bodies;
  • The intersection of surveillance with race, ethnicity and political identity;
  • The use of AI and machine learning in immigration control and border security;
  • Surveilled genders, sexualities and intimacies; 
  • Surveillance of public spaces (i.e., airports, campuses, streets and other urban areas) and its implications on accessibilities and the right to the city;
  • Surveillance through private apparatuses (i.e., smart homes, dash-cams), auto-surveillance (i.e., smartwatches) and changing dynamics of visibility, invisibility and hyper-visibility;
  • The growing integration of surveillance technologies in criminal justice (i.e., Electronic Monitoring, Risk Assessment Tools, law enforcement’s body-worn cameras) and their connection to punitive practices;
  • Drones, verticality and aerial forms of control (Weizman 2002; Steyerl 2011) of lands and peoples under occupation;
  • Ethical and human rights considerations surrounding the use of technology in surveillance and local policies to protect personal data;
  • Concerns regarding Big Data, digital privacy rights and algorithmic bias;
  • Surveillance art, artveillance and other artistic interventions;
  • Activisms, grassroots movements, and counter-surveillance practices that evade, challenge and tackle surveillance states;
  • Post-surveillance speculative scenarios

 

References

Ball, K., Haggerty, K., & Lyon, D. (Eds.). (2012). Routledge handbook of surveillance studies. Routledge

Brighenti, A. M. (2010). Artveillance: At the crossroad of art and surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 7(2), 137–148.

Browne, S. (2016). Dark matters. Duke University Press.

Haggerty, K., & Ericson, R. (2000). The surveillant assemblage. British Journal of Sociology, 51(4), 605–622. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071310020015280

Kafer, G., & Grinberg, D. (Eds). (2019). Queer surveillance [Special issue]. Surveillance & Society, 17(5).

Keshavarz, M. (2024). Smuggling as a material critique of borders. Geopolitics, 29(4), 1143–1165. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2023.2268528

Monahan, T., & Wood, D. M. (Eds.). 2018. Surveillance studies: A reader. Oxford University Press.

Monahan, T. (2017). Ways of being seen: Surveillance art and the interpellation of viewing subjects. Cultural Studies, 32(4), 560–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2017.1374424 

Saltes, N. (2013). ‘Abnormal’ bodies on the borders of inclusion: Biopolitics and the paradox of disability surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 11(1/2), 55–73.

Steyerl, H. (2011). In free fall: A thought experiment on vertical perspective. e-flux, 24(4), 42–52.

Weizman, E. (2002, April 23). Introduction to the politics of verticality. Open Democracy. Retrieved at 14 de outubro de 2024, from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/article_801jsp/

Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. PublicAffairs.

 

Submission of full manuscripts: November 20, 2024 to January 24, 2025

 

LANGUAGE

Papers can be submitted in English or Portuguese. The articles selected for publication will be translated into Portuguese or English, respectively, and published in both languages.

 

EDITING AND SUBMISSION

Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies is an open-access academic journal that adheres to the stringent standards of peer-reviewing and blind peer-reviewing. After submission, each paper will be distributed to two reviewers previously invited to evaluate it according to its academic quality, originality and relevance to the objectives and scope of the theme of this issue of the journal.

Original articles are submitted on the journal's website at (https://www.rlec.pt/). When submitting to the Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies for the first time, please register here.

Publication guidelines are available here.

For further information, please refer to rlec[at]ics.uminho.pt