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Topics in Legal Studies (376-0-21)

Topic

Surveillance, Policing and the Law

Instructors

Abigail Rose Barefoot
847/467-0259
Abigail Barefoot is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the Center for Legal Studies. Prof. Barefoot’s research explores questions of justice, safety, and accountability through the lens of prison abolition and critical carceral studies Abigail’s current book project Beyond Carceral Responses: Transformative Justice, Prison Abolition, and the Movement to End Sexual Violence examines transformative justice practices for sexual violence. Using an ethnographic approach, Abigail unpacks the tensions, contradictions, and possibilities of practicing transformative justice as experienced by survivors, facilitators, and people who cause harm. Her other teaching and research interests include LGBTQ Studies, American social movements, and mass incarceration.

Meeting Info

Annenberg Hall G32: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

How are surveillance technologies shaping daily life and society, especially in terms of shaping what we think, see, and do? Building on the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies, this course explores the intersection of policing, surveillance, and the law and raises questions about (in)security, civil liberties, control, and privacy. Topics will include The Patriot Act, biometrics, algorithm and predictive policing, and citizen surveillance. Students will also engage with the political, ethical, and methodological concerns that increased surveillance raises.

Learning Objectives

- Critically examine frameworks of surveillance using the field of surveillance studies
- Apply an intersectional approach to topics surrounding the larger ecosystem of surveillance with a particular emphasis on how surveillance impacts people differently based upon their racial, class, and gender identities.
- Engage with an interdisciplinary variety of theoretical frameworks (surveillance studies, critical criminology, sociolegal studies), empirical observations (qualitative and quantitative data), and research methods (social science and humanistic).
- Craft text-based and verbal analyses of assigned course media—and extend this analysis to individually selected case studies and contexts.

Teaching Method

Lecture and Class Discussion

Evaluation Method

Grades will be based on in-class participation, class presentations, and written assignments.

Class Materials (Required)

All course materials (texts, podcasts, and videos) will be posted on our course Canvas page.