We are delighted to let you know that 2021 saw three new titles published in the Routledge Studies in Surveillance book series, edited by CRISP. These titles feature the latest empirical and theoretical scholarship on surveillance. Congratulations to all of the authors!

Trust and Transparency in the Age of Surveillance is an edited collection of works curated by Lora Anne Viola and Paweł Laidler. It was compiled after a series of development events in Berlin and Kraków (pre pandemic). Lora and Paweł say:

"The contributions to this volume challenge this conventional wisdom by considering how relations of trust and policies of transparency are modulated by underlying power asymmetries, sociohistorical legacies, economic structures, and institutional constraints. They study trust and transparency as embedded in specific sociopolitical contexts to show how, under certain conditions, transparency can become a tool of social control that erodes trust, while mistrust—rather than trust—can sometimes offer the most promising approach to safeguarding rights and freedom in an age of surveillance."

Gender, Surveillance, and Literature in the Romantic Period 1780–1830 by Lucy Thompson explores the intersection of gender and surveillance in Romantic literature.  Lucy establishes that women experienced surveillance in a very different way to men at that time, which, incidentally, is the time which also produced the Panopticon prison design. She combines insights from contemporary surveillance theory with the writing of Jane Austen, Charlotte Smith, and Joanna Baillie, as well as Lord Byron and Thomas De Quince. She says:

"Romantic-era literature offers a key message: surveillance, in all its forms, was experienced distinctly and differently by women than men. Gender, Surveillance, and Literature in the Romantic Period examines how familiar and neglected texts internalise and interrogate the ways in which targeted, asymmetric, and often isolating surveillance made women increasingly and uncomfortably visible in a way that still resonates today."

Surveillance Practices and Mental Health: The Impact of CCTV Inside Mental Health Wards by Suki Desai is the first in depth study of CCTV surveillance in a psychiatric ward. Suki focuses on the exposure of the patient's body to CCTV. She explores how these new lines of sight reconfigure the relationships between patients and staff. She says:

"this book suggests that camera use inside mental health wards is based on a perception of the violent nature of the mental health patient. This perception not only influences ethical mental health practice inside the ward but also impacts how patients experience the ward."

 If you are interested in proposing a book for the series please get in touch.