[URBANTH-L]AAA CFP: Technologies of Surveillance

[Angela Jancius]

From: Sandhya Ganapathy <sandhyag at temple.edu>

CFP - AAA 2007:   
Technologies of Surveillance: Fear, Faith and Expertise in 
U.S. Context 

In the current US context of heightened militarism and fear, 
concepts of the individual and individual rights are 
shifting as personal information increasingly falls within 
the public domain.  Within these social and political 
contexts, citizens are asked to put aside concerns over 
individual rights and personal privacy in favor of state 
interests and corporate growth.  This panel examines the 
ways in which boundaries between public and private domains 
continue to shift, specifically how state and corporate 
structures reconstitute constructions of self.  Through 
a 'politics of fear,' state officials and corporate entities 
alike entrust those with technological expertise to address 
problems as varied as terrorism, public and personal health 
and environmental degradation.  The development of 
technologies and processes of surveillance suggest that 
mining and collecting information and external and internal 
monitoring over space and place, the body and nature are 
synonymous with safety, health and public good.  The papers 
in this panel address how such processes encourage 
individual collaboration with experts and how faith in 
expertise is used as way to address public concerns over 
fear and safety.  In addition, the papers consider questions 
regarding whether technologies and processes of surveillance 
are meaningful solutions to public concerns or whether they 
are most meaningful to interests who stand to profit from 
them.

We invite paper submissions addressing the following or 
related areas:
. Technologies of medical surveillance
. Self-governance in public space
. Environmental monitoring and management policy
. Faith in expertise
. Shifting designations of public and private

Please email abstracts and questions or comments by March 
29, 2007 to:
Lisa Jane Hardy, PhD lisajane at temple.edu
Sandhya Ganapathy, ABD sandhyag at temple.edu