Tanya Serisier

Birkbeck College, University of London, School of Law, Faculty Member

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Papers by Tanya Serisier

Video Activism and the ambiguities of counter-surveillance

by Tanya Serisier and Dean Wilson

This paper examines the use of visual technologies by political activists in protest situations t... more This paper examines the use of visual technologies by political activists in protest situations to monitor police conduct. Using
interview data with Australian video activists, this paper seeks to understand the motivations, techniques and outcomes of video activism, and its relationship to counter-surveillance and police accountability. Our data also indicated that there have been
significant transformations in the organization and deployment of counter-surveillance methods since 2000, when there were
large-scale protests against the World Economic Forum meeting in Melbourne accompanied by a coordinated campaign that sought to document police misconduct. The paper identifies and examines two inter-related aspects of this: the act of filming and the process of dissemination of this footage. It is noted that technological changes over the last decade have led to a proliferation of visual recording technologies, particularly mobile phone cameras, which have stimulated a corresponding proliferation of images. Analogous innovations in internet communications have stimulated a coterminous proliferation of potential outlets for images Video footage provides activists with a valuable tool for safety and publicity. Nevertheless, we argue, video activism can have unintended consequences, including exposure to legal risks and the amplification of official surveillance. Activists are alsooften unable to control the political effects of their footage or the purposes to which it is used. We conclude by assessing the impact that transformations in both protest organization and media technologies might have for counter-surveillance techniques based on visual surveillance.

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Who Was Andrea? Writing Oneself as a Feminist Icon

Women: A Cultural Review, Dec 24, 2012

This article explores the construction of Andrea Dworkin as a public persona, or a ‘feminist icon... more This article explores the construction of Andrea Dworkin as a public persona, or a ‘feminist icon’, revered by some and demonized by others. It argues that in both her fiction and non-fiction, Dworkin engaged in a process of writing herself as an exceptional woman, a ‘feminist militant’ as she describes herself in the subheading of her 2002 memoir, Heartbreak. The article illustrates Dworkin's autobiographical logic of exceptionalism by comparing the story told in Heartbreak to the story of Dworkin's major novel, Mercy, which features a heroine, Andrea, who shares Dworkin's name and significant biographical details. While Dworkin has insisted that Mercy is not an autobiographical novel, the author undertakes a reading here of Mercy as the story of Dworkin if she had not become the feminist icon of her own and others' construction. In Mercy, Andrea unsuccessfully attempts to escape the silent, victimized status that Dworkin has insistently argued is imposed upon women. In her repeated victimization, Andrea functions for Dworkin as an ‘everywoman’ who both embodies Dworkin's world-view and highlights how Dworkin's own biography exists in tension with some of her central assumptions about women, gender and contemporary society.

format_quoteDworkin's activism emerged as a response to her experiences of sexual violence, framing her survival as a catalyst for action.format_quote

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Some Gays and the Queers

m/c journal of media and culture, Dec 2012

Laura Bush and Dan Brown: Whiteness, Feminism and the Politics of Vulnerability

Transnational whiteness matters, Jan 1, 2008

In the years since the publication of Samuel Huntington&amp;#x27;s influential and controvers... more In the years since the publication of Samuel Huntington&amp;#x27;s influential and controversial Foreign Affairs article in 1993, the idea of a &amp;#x27;Clash of Civilizations&amp;#x27; between the West and Islam has shaped much public discourse within the West. 1 It has provided the major ...

Beyond the Desire for Law: Sex and Crisis in Australian Feminist and Queer Politics

Australian Feminist Law Journal, …, Jan 1, 2009

On 22 May 2008, police raided the Roslyn Oxley9 art gallery in Sydney. A number of photographic w... more On 22 May 2008, police raided the Roslyn Oxley9 art gallery in Sydney. A number of photographic works by renowned Australian photographer Bill Henson were removed on what was to be the opening night of his latest exhibition. The works featured photographs of partially naked adolescent youths, with an image of a shirtless 13 year old girl causing the most controversy. Police also announced that they intended to prosecute both Henson and the gallery with 'publishing an indecent article', an offence under both the Commonwealth and NSW Crimes Act.' While charges were never laid, the event was highly controversial, generating comments by the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and leading to a fissure between Rudd and the representatives of Australian arts and culture gathered in the 'Creative Australia' stream of the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit which had occurred just a short time previously. Numerous opinion pieces and articles appeared in both the broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, and later that year David Marr published a book about the event and the surrounding controversy.2

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Remembering Anita: Rape and the Politics of Commemoration

Austl. Feminist LJ, Jan 1, 2005

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Speaking Out against Rape: Feminist (Her) Stories and Anti-rape Politics

Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, Jan 1, 2007

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Theoretical Stories

Cultural Studies Review, Jan 1, 2012

Video Activism and the ambiguities of counter-surveillance

Surveillance & Society, Jan 1, 2010

This paper examines the use of visual technologies by political activists in protest situations t... more This paper examines the use of visual technologies by political activists in protest situations to monitor police conduct. Using interview data with Australian video activists, this paper seeks to understand the motivations, techniques and outcomes of video activism, and its relationship to counter-surveillance and police accountability. Our data also indicated that there have been significant transformations in the organization and deployment of counter-surveillance methods since 2000, when there were large-scale protests against the World Economic Forum meeting in Melbourne accompanied by a coordinated campaign that sought to document police misconduct. The paper identifies and examines two inter-related aspects of this: the act of filming and the process of dissemination of this footage. It is noted that technological changes over the last decade have led to a proliferation of visual recording technologies, particularly mobile phone cameras, which have stimulated a corresponding proliferation of images. Analogous innovations in internet communications have stimulated a coterminous proliferation of potential outlets for images Video footage provides activists with a valuable tool for safety and publicity. Nevertheless, we argue, video activism can have unintended consequences, including exposure to legal risks and the amplification of official surveillance. Activists are also often unable to control the political effects of their footage or the purposes to which it is used. We conclude by assessing the impact that transformations in both protest organization and media technologies might have for counter-surveillance techniques based on visual surveillance.

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Books by Tanya Serisier

Out on the Inside The Rights, Experiences and Needs of LGBT People in Prison

by Nicola Carr, Siobhan McAlister, and Tanya Serisier

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Tanya Serisier

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