Skip to main content

Aesthetic Approaches: Visualizing security studies (partial transcript)

WELCOME BACK TO CRSP TALK -- I AM AVERY MOORE KLOSS AND WE ARE SO GLAD YOU’VE JOINED US FOR THIS EPISODE.

IN EVERY EPISODE OF CRSP TALK WE FOCUS ON A DIFFERENT ASPECT OF SECURITY RESEARCH -- THAT COULD BE SPECIFIC RESEARCH BEING DONE, OR RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES BEING USED BY OUR MEMBERS AT THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON SECURITY PRACTICES AT WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY. OUR GOAL IS ALWAYS TO TELL A STORY THAT HELPS YOU, OUR LISTENER, UNDERSTAND THE WORK WE DO AND THE REALLY INTERESTING TOPICS AND METHODOLOGIES INVOLVED.

BECAUSE THE WORK OF OUR RESEARCHERS IS SO DIFFERENT, AND FAR REACHING -- WE CHOOSE A NEW FORMAT FOR EACH EPISODE THAT BEST FITS THE STORY WE ARE TRYING TO TELL. TODAY -- A DYNAMIC PANEL DISCUSSION.

FOR THIS EPISODE, WE WERE GIVEN ACCESS TO THREE INCREDIBLE RESEARCHERS WORKING WITH AESTHETIC APPROACHES TO RESEARCHING SECURITY STUDIES. FOR INSTANCE, HOW CAN SECURITY BE VISUALIZED, THROUGH SUCH MODALITIES AS PHOTOGRAPHY, FILM AND CONTEMPORARY ART? AND, HOW DO THESE UNIQUE WAYS OF SEEING HELP US TO THINK ABOUT THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SPACE, POWER AND SURVEILLANCE? THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT TODAY.

THE IDEA FOR THIS EPISODE CAME FROM CRSP MEMBER SARA MATTHEWS. SARA’S WORK THE "CULTURAL LIFE OF DRONES" EXPLORES HOW CONVERSATIONS ABOUT VISUAL CULTURE, TECHNOLOGY, PRIVACY, COMMERCIALIZATION, AND SAFETY, CAN BE BROUGHT INTO PUBLIC DIALOGUE VIA CONTEMPORARY ART.  HERE’S SARA. 

Sara Matthews: My name is Sara Matthews. I’m a researcher working in Southern Ontario currently in the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. And, my work is interdisciplinary and most of my projects use research creation as a methodology. I’m interested in  the relations between visual culture and martial politics.

FOR THIS DISCUSSION WE ARE ALSO JOINED BY NAYROUZ ABU HATOUM. HER ETHNOGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT THE ART OF UNSETTLING VISUAL POLITICS: DECOLONIZING THE PALESTINIAN LANDSCAPE AFTER THE WALL, INVESTIGATES THE VISUAL POLITICS OF ENGAGEMENT WITH THE LANDSCAPE IN PALESTINE. THE BOOK FOLLOWS PALESTINIAN ARTISTS WHO WORK WITH VISUAL AND PERFORMANCE ART AS SITES OF POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY AND LIBERATION.

Nayrouz Abu Hatoum: My name is Nayrouz Abu Hatoum. I am an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal -- the unceded territory of Kanien'kehá:ka and Tiohtià:ke, also known as Montreal. I am interested in visual politics, place-making and spatial politics, and most precisely in the context of Israel and Palestine.

LASTLY, WE ARE WELCOMING BRETT STORY TO THIS DISCUSSION. HER SECOND FEATURE-LENGTH FILM, THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES EXPLORES THE HIDDEN WORLD OF THE MODERN PRISON SYSTEM BY EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF MASS INCARCERATION OUTSIDE THE PRISON WALLS.

Brett Story: My name is Brett Story. I’m an assistant professor of Image Arts at Ryerson University. I’m also a documentary filmmaker and a geographer and my work tends to concern issues of state violence and social control. I do work on the carceral state and geographies of the prison industrial complex.

THOUGH THEIR PROJECTS ARE QUITE DISTINCT, WHAT OUR THREE GUESTS HAVE IN COMMON IS THEIR TURN TO VISUAL REPRESENTATION AS A WAY OF THINKING ABOUT SECURITY.

AND SO TODAY, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT VISUALIZING SECURITY STUDIES AND HOW SCHOLARS ARE WORKING WITH DIFFERENT AESTHETIC APPROACHES TO RESEARCH.

Audio: PANEL DISCUSSION

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE OF CRSP TALK. WE OWE A HUGE DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO OUR WONDERFUL PANELISTS TODAY.

BRETT STORY IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF IMAGE ARTS AT RYERSON UNIVERSITY. SHE IS ALSO A DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER AND GEOGRAPHER. A LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HER FILM  THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES IS IN THE SHOW NOTES OF THIS EPISODE.

NAYROUZ ABU HATOUM IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY. A LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER MANUSCRIPT THE ART OF UNSETTLING VISUAL POLITICS: DECOLONIZING THE PALESTINIAN LANDSCAPE AFTER THE WALL IS INCLUDED IN THE SHOW NOTES AS WELL.

AND, SARA MATTHEWS IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GLOBAL STUDIES AT WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY. THERE’S A LINK TO MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER WORK THE "CULTURAL LIFE OF DRONES" IN THE SHOW NOTES. THERE’S A LINK TO MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER WORK THE "CULTURAL LIFE OF DRONES" IN THE SHOW NOTES.

YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR GUESTS AND THEIR RESEARCH IN THE SHOW NOTES OF THIS EPISODE.

WE ARE SO GLAD YOU JOINED US, AND WE CAN’T WAIT TO UNCOVER MORE OF OUR RESEARCH ON OUR NEXT EPISODE.

THIS IS CRSP TALK AND I’M AVERY MOORE KLOSS.

Unknown Spif - $key