Integrating subjects: Linking surveillance experiences to social patterns using Ethno‐Epistemic Assemblages

Abstract

Surveillance can be experienced in a variety of ways, but how these experiences might be linked to broader social patterns is currently underdeveloped. There is a growing body of research exploring the surveillance subject and how individuals may (dis)engage with surveillance practices. This includes (but is not limited to) surveillance as a bargaining process (Pallitto 2013), counter surveillance activities such as sousveillance (Mann, Nolan and Wellman 2003), and surveillance as a process of exposing subjects (Ball 2009). But while shedding light on the experiences of surveillance subjects, how these experiences might be placed in relation to broader social and surveillance structures is not always automatically evident. This paper presents an initial engagement with this topic, and suggests that a possible angle for linking surveillance subjects to broader social patterns may be achieved through concepts from science and technology studies, specifically Irwin and Michael’s (2003) concept of the ethno-epistemic assemblage (EEA). The EEA is a theoretical heuristic originally envisioned to help understand the blurred relationships between science and society, emphasising the heterogeneous composition and relationship of technoscience and society. The EEA specifically links an individual’s contexts (ethnos), and the forms of knowledge relevant to their contexts (episteme), into assemblages, highlighting the interwoven, dynamic, and fluid nature of ethno-epistemes against and in conjunction with other EEAs, and other social narratives. A brief exploration of the marginal positioning of surveillance subjectivities is presented, followed by a detailed description of the EEA, and how it may contribute to structuring and placing the complexities of surveillance subjects in society.