[Air-L] CFP: An S&S Dialogue on "The Surveillant Assemblage" after 25 years

[Bryce Newell]

Dear Colleagues,

We invite expressions of interest of ~400 words to write short (~2000-2500-word) contributions for a special Dialogue section of Surveillance & Society<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/index__;!!C5qS4YX3!FfMCMjwfIALZScl4XvDL_qSDFQQpOCwKsiH1mW3-EcYQQ5zSBgdiouksWu19sLeCjbTr5nADxnwCikgRJwQYnUGnLSKcnXE$> to be published on the 25th anniversary of the publication of “The Surveillant Assemblage” by Kevin D. Haggerty and Richard V. Ericson (link to article<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1080/00071310020015280__;!!C5qS4YX3!H0wvhoyvgCBrzpCjPBfg0R_T6HnbPwcEkn6yIUZ7YrCVSeCSOxCkSTNok3Cuw1tmVYU1oZfiVJHYV7rbDsdh9Qo2-CQ$>). We invite expressions of interest from surveillance scholars who seek to, for example, respond to the enduring legacy of Haggerty and Ericson’s ideas, critique the concept of the surveillant assemblage as initially proposed and/or as it has been taken up or modified in subsequent surveillance scholarship, propose new perspectives on the concept, or otherwise reflect on the contribution that the concept of the surveillant assemblage has made on contemporary surveillance scholarship. The Dialogue will include an editorial introduction and a closing piece written by Kevin Haggerty in response to the selected contributions.
The Surveillant Assemblage has become a classic piece of literature in the surveillance studies field and its main ideas have been adopted, adapted, critiqued, and reframed by scholars over the years since it was published in 2000. In the article, Haggerty and Ericson drew on “the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari to suggest that we are witnessing a convergence of what were once discrete surveillance systems to the point that we can now speak of an emerging ‘surveillant assemblage’” (p. 606). They further explained the surveillant assemblage in the following words:
“This assemblage operates by abstracting human bodies from their territorial settings and separating them into a series of discrete flows. These flows are then reassembled into distinct ‘data doubles’ which can be scrutinized and targeted for intervention. In the process, we are witnessing a rhizomatic leveling of the hierarchy of surveillance, such that groups which were previously exempt from routine surveillance are now increasingly being monitored” (p. 606).
We are hoping to curate a set of critical and reflective position papers from scholars in various parts of the world, including in the Global South and areas not as commonly the focus of surveillance studies research. As such, we will prioritize submissions against those criteria, in addition to excellence and fit with the full set of accepted papers, including presenting a range of views and positions on the subject of the Dialogue.

If you are interested in proposing a short paper for inclusion in this discussion, please send the following information as an expression of interest to Bryce Newell (bcnewell at uoregon.edu<mailto:bcnewell at uoregon.edu>; please use the subject line: “Dialogue Submission”) on or before the end of day on February 1, 2025:

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Your name
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Details of your institutional affiliation (if applicable)
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Link to your online profile, website, etc., with list of your publications (if available)
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A title and 300-400-word abstract for your proposed contribution (proposals should connect to the themes identified above and have a strong normative, critical, and/or argumentative element)

We will review proposals and invite a select number of authors to submit full (short) papers. These papers will undergo editorial review prior to final acceptance. We aim to publish the section in the December 2025 issue of Surveillance & Society<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/index__;!!C5qS4YX3!FfMCMjwfIALZScl4XvDL_qSDFQQpOCwKsiH1mW3-EcYQQ5zSBgdiouksWu19sLeCjbTr5nADxnwCikgRJwQYnUGnLSKcnXE$>.
Please note that Dialogue pieces are not refereed, but are subject to editorial review and, if (tentatively) accepted, possible requests for revision. We plan to allow authors of accepted papers the chance to read and engage with the other accepted papers prior to publication, to create a real dialogue within the section. We will be selecting only a select number of pieces for inclusion in this special section.

We look forward to reading your proposals.
Sincerely,

Bryce Newell
Co-Director, Surveillance Studies Network<https://surveillance-studies.net/> (SSN)
Dialogue Editor, Surveillance & Society<https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/index>