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Special Issue of ‘Surveillance and Society’ journal

Call for Papers: Surveillance and Religion

Special Issue of Surveillance & Society

www.surveillance-and-society.org

Edited by Eric Stoddart, University of St Andrews, UK, and Susanne Wigorts Yngevesson, Stockholm School of Theology.

Deadline for submission: 1 August 2017

Publication date: early 2018

This special issue will be one of the outputs of the AHRC funding of the network  during 2016 & 2017.

Introduction

This issue of Surveillance & Society is seeking papers and other submissions that examine the interplay between religion and surveillance.

Religious communities are targets, as well as consumers, of surveillance. This may occur as the securitization of religious identity. Cultures of surveillance develop with societies where religion remains a significant player and/or where religious themes continue to influence as part of the broader heritage. Political rhetoric may draw upon concepts of the eye of God, popular culture may appeal to fears and/or reassurances of a divine and omnipresent gaze. Religious traditions also have the potential to contribute to discussions of the ethics of surveillance, whether in the realm of national security, human rights, trust, privacy or human flourishing in general.

This issue seeks to explore the ways in which particular religious communities are subjects of surveillance and invites critical attention to the ways that religious communities deploy surveillance strategies. It aims to scrutinize how religious themes circulate within discourses that attempt to legitimate or resist surveillance. Furthermore, this issue seeks to articulate particular religious and theological insights and perspectives on the contemporary debate around surveillance.

Possible research areas might include (but are not limited to):

  • Religions under surveillance.
  • Religious practice and identity as surveillance.
  • Religions consuming surveillance.
  • Religious ethics and surveillance.
  • Religion and surveillance in films.
  • Religion and surveillance in novels.
  • Religion and surveillance in art.
  • Religion in the political discourses of surveillance.

We also welcome other subjects not outlined above, opinion pieces and research notes, as well as art, new media and other cultural responses. Please contact the guest-editors in advance to discuss proposed topics:

For submission instructions please see Surveillance and Society website.