Dear Colleagues,

We invite expressions of interest to write short (2000-word) papers for an upcoming Dialogue section of Surveillance & Society focused on the topic of “Surveillance in Contemporary Conflict.” We aim to publish the section in the March 2023 issue of Surveillance & Society.

In this Dialogue, we seek contributions that examine how surveillance is part of, and has grown out of, contemporary conflicts around the world. The war in Ukraine is certainly within the scope of this call, however we are also interested in pieces that examine how, by comparison, surveillance in non-Western conflicts remains largely unnoticed and undebated. We also seek proposals for contributions that engage thoughtfully with questions of how race, privilege, and discrimination inflect contemporary conflicts or assessments of them. As usual, the focus of proposed submissions should be on surveillance (practices, technologies, ethics, etc.) itself, situated within the contexts of conflict(s) around the world. Additionally, we are open to contributions that explore ideas, theories, or methods with which to approach issues of conflict in future surveillance-studies scholarship.

Possible topics could include technologies of war; low-tech innovations; the role of social media or communication channels; or geo-political tensions. Possible regional foci could include the ongoing wars and conflicts in Yemen; Afghanistan; Palestine; Myanmar; Ethiopia; Eritrea; Paraguay; Syria; Sudan; Nigeria; or, Iraq.

We are hoping to curate a small set of 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.

If you are interested in proposing a short paper for inclusion in this discussion, please send the following to Keith Spiller (Associate Editor) and Bryce Newell (Dialogue Editor) on or before the end of day on July 1, 2022 ([log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]):

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

Please note that Dialogue pieces are not refereed, but are subject to editorial review and, if (tentatively) accepted, possible requests for revision. Depending on time constraints, we also hope 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 small number of pieces for inclusion in this special section.

We look forward to reading your proposals.

Kind regards

Keith