Class Details
Technology and Ethics in the Age of Invasive Monitoring
Surveillance technology is now interwoven with every aspect of modern life—TSA scanners, Predator drones, ubiquitous social media, Big Data marketing, and “always listening” smart speakers are just the tip of the iceberg. Working from an interdisciplinary perspective that will bring the sociologically-based research of surveillance studies into conversation with humanities scholarship related to art, film, history, architecture, and affect, we will explore the psychology and politics underlying the institutionalization of insecurity in the US. What are the hidden costs of living in a “control society” in which surveillance is deemed essential to government and business? This is the central question in a seminar that will weigh the impact of surveillance on privacy, dignity, autonomy, creativity, and emotion in the contemporary US.
IMPORTANT DATES:
- October 22, 7-9pm CST zoom meeting
- October 29, 7-9pm CST zoom meeting
- November 14, 10am-4pm CST in person workshop/lecture in Norman
Enrollment
- Enrollment through your home campus
- OSLEP provides all required reading materials at no additional cost – NO books to buy!
Scholar
Randolph Lewis
University of Texas at Austin
Randolph Lewis is Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Most recently, he is the author of Under Surveillance: Being Watched in Modern America (2017), which has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and NPR. He is co-editor of a book series on indigenous media for the University of Nebraska Press; co-producer of the documentary film, Texas Tavola: A Taste of Sicily in the Lone Star State. He is also the founder and editor of The End of Austin, a digital humanities project that explores the shifting cultural geography of the fastest growing city in the US. In addition to tracking new trends in surveillance technology, he is currently making a documentary film about post-apocalyptic faux tribalism in the Mojave desert.