Human with Non-Human: Digital Surveillance and the Integrated Network(s) of Urban Space
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Date
2006-06
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Surveillance is not a system unto itself, nor is it an autonomous apparatus with its own affects. Rather, it is a functioning component in a distributed network of social ordering within the overall organization of abstract space. This essay will argue that the complex(ity) of technological tools ordering urban space presents intricate networks of relationships between humans and non-humans toward an ordered augmentation of abstract organization in urban space(s).
The first section of this essay will establish that surveillance is a tactical tool of a larger apparatus of social ordering. The argument positions surveillance as a verbal noun attached to specific actions including locating, watching, and archiving. Second, this essay will investigate advancements in the marriage of law enforcement and technology in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Through a close look at iterations of surveillance, this section will establish the empirical base from which to register the power-based analysis that follows. Third, an elucidation of Foucault’s genealogy of abnormality will illustrate the discursive origins of ‘criminal threat’. The genealogy of distinction between normal and abnormal will situate an argument for how human and non-human actors collaborate in the social milieu of Chicago. Finally, the last section will approach the ordering apparatus itself as a functioning entity composed of heterogeneous actors producing social order together.
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Keywords
Surveillance, Chicago, Foucault, Abnormality, Deleuze, Cameras