LHJ The Lincoln Humanities Journal Fall 2016 | Volume 4 Panopticon: Surveillance, Suspicion, Fear Editor ABBES MAAZAOUI Annual publication of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. ISSN 2474-7726 (print) ISSN 2474-7726 (online) 4 The Lincoln Humanities Journal (LHJ) The Lincoln Humanities Journal, ISSN 2474-7726 (print), ISSN 2474-7726 (online), is an interdisciplinary double blind peer-reviewed journal published once a year by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. Its main objective is to promote interdisciplinary studies by providing an intellectual platform for international scholars to exchange ideas and perspectives. Each volume is focused on a pre- selected theme in the fields of arts, humanities, the social sciences, and contemporary culture. Preference is given to topics of general interest that lend themselves to an interdisciplinary approach. Manuscripts should conform to the MLA style. Submissions may be made by e-mail to the editor at [email protected]. The preferred language is English. The journal is published both online and in print, in November-December of each year. Editor ABBES MAAZAOUI Lincoln University Editorial Board J. KENNETH VAN DOVER Lincoln University ERIK LIDDELL Eastern Kentucky University KIRSTEN C. KUNKLE Scholar & Opera Singer HÉDI JAOUAD Skidmore College EZRA S. ENGLING Eastern Kentucky University JEAN LEVASSEUR Bishop’s University, Canada The Lincoln Humanities Journal 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 ABBES MAAZAOUI PART ONE: SURVEILLANCE: PAST AND PRESENT The Panopticon, the Pinkertons, and the Private Eye 15 J.K. VAN DOVER, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania Paintings as Propaganda: Blending Patriotism with Art 27 ANTONIA DAPENA-TRETTER, The Walt Disney Family Museum PART TWO: SURVEILLANCE, THE MEDIA AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF FEAR The Big Guy with the Remote Control: Person of Interest and Television Preemption Fantasies 47 Zach Mann, University of Southern California Celebrity Sting Operations in India: An Analysis of Technologies of Surveillance in ‘Public Interest’ 59 Neha Khurana, University of Delhi CNN and Al Jazeera, and Their Versions of James Foley Story 73 BINCY ABDUL SAMAD, Bowling Green State University Publicizing Suspicions of Espionage on the News: The Leak of the Felix S. Bloch Case 83 ANN LUPPI VON MEHREN, Drexel University PART THREE: SURVEILLANCE AND RESISTANCE OR WHEN EXTREMES COLLIDE Psychic Surveillance: Punitive Psychiatry in Sokolov’s A School for Fools 97 ANYA L. HAMRICK, New York Institute of Technology 6 Elegy and Resistance: Danez Smith’s Black Movie 109 PIA DEAS, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania Surveillance and the Metropolis: Individuals, Collectivities and Resistance in Delhi/NCR 115 NEHA KHURANA, University of Delhi Of Terror, Fear and Insecurity in the Drama on the Niger Delta: A Critical Evaluation of Esiaba Irobi’s Hangmen Also Die 135 Edward Egbo Imo, University Of Port Harcourt Re-Islamization as a Counter-Panopticon 151 ABEER ALOUSH, University of Pennsylvania PART FOUR: SURVEILLANCE AS A LITERARY GENRE Ethnic Espionage Fiction and Impossible Subjects in Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker 163 Swan Kim, City University of New York University of New York at Bronx Community College BBC’s Orphan Black’s Slow Narrative Reveals a Foucauldian Prison Structure 177 Brandi Bradley, Florida State University Surveillance, Control, and Masculine Identity in George Lamming’s In the Castle of My Skin 189 Adrienne Vivian, Seminole State College ABSTRACTS 197 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 205 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 208 SUBSCRIPTION 208 INTRODUCTION ABBES MAAZAOUI Since the earliest days of civilization, the practice of surveillance in all its forms (i.e., observing, collecting information, surprising, but also hiding, disguising, deceiving and avoiding danger) has been used by humans as a basic survival strategy to hunt for prey, mainly food and shelter, and avoid becoming a prey to other predators. These strategies are still used, even though today’s techniques may seem more sophisticated, more pervasive and maybe more shocking too. Here are few random headlines: a jealous boyfriend places a GPS device on his suspected girlfriend’s car to trace her where-abouts; a reporter is secretly filmed naked by her stalker in her hotel room1; the giant retailer, Target, uses big data to identify and target pregnant teenagers for pregnancy-related advertising2; SeaWorld Entertainment sends spies posing as radical activists to infiltrate the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a not-for-profit organization.3 The news is full of such stories, not to mention of course the biggest stories of all: spying, hacking scandals and WikiLeaks. While the full impact of this modern, on-steroids surveillance has yet to be understood, it is already clear that this new world order undermines the boundaries of ethics and morality. Besides the universal loss of both privacy4 and presumption of innocence, it trivializes random acts of suspicion and fear especially against minorities and unwanted individuals or nations. Notwithstanding these ethical issues, the question is whether surveillance can create anything but an illusion of safety. Surveillance World “These days, if you feel like somebody’s watching you, you might be right” (Benny Evangelista ). The practice of surveillance has intensified to such an extent that it no longer sounds paranoid to assert that everyone–individuals, groups, communities, companies, and 1 DailyMail.com “Erin Andrews' $75million 'Peeping Tom' lawsuit heads to court”: 22 February 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3458372/Jury-selection-begin-Erin-Andrews-nude-videos- lawsuit.html#ixzz4QqJBGaQs 2 See “Big Data in Private Sector …” p. 1. 3 See “SeaWorld admits it sent spies to infiltrate PETA.” http://www.marketwatch.com/story/seaworld-admits-it- sent-spies-to-infiltrate-peta-2016-02-25/ 4 “Privacy is mostly an illusion. A useful illusion, no question about it, one that allows us to live without being paralyzed by self-consciousness. The illusion of privacy gives us room to be fully human, sharing intimacies and risking mistakes. But all the while, the line between private and public space is as porous as tissue paper.” Von Drehle. 8 Introduction countries–is involved in one way or another, not only as an object of surveillance, but also as an agent of surveillance. To paraphrase an expression coined in the 1980s, we are becoming a ‘surveillance world.’5 It is as if we have reached the golden age of surveillance: anywhere we are and whatever we do, we are subject to being monitored. GPS instruments and cellphones that most of us carry have their own tracking capabilities. Video Cameras are ubiquitous, in high skies, deep seas, and everywhere in between: in stores, gas stations, hotel lobbies, traffic intersections, parks, neighborhoods, and even classrooms. In Britain, it is estimated that a person could be captured on film 300 times a day. Furthermore, most of these video technologies are integrating facial recognition capabilities. Here, in the United States, The Washington Post … says that there are more than 1,500 components [of the US federal government] that do it [collect surveillance]. There are 17 primary agencies in the intelligence community. But that does not even count the 17,000 state and local police institutions, much less what the commercial sector does in terms of collecting information.6 (“Can Security…” 32) Sometimes, we are told about what is going on: “This conversation will be recorded;” “This area is monitored 24/7;” “You have to accept cookies to go to this site.” But more often than not, we do not know who is recording, how the recording will be used, or for how long it will be kept. But something is certain: with a simple click of a mouse, our past in form of electronic record can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The old expression about filing a document as part a person’s permanent record is no longer an abstract notion or a far-fetched idea. It is a reality.7 All this leads us to the concept of Panopticon, the conceptual prison designed by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. It would not be too wild of an idea to think that we live today in a giant digital panopticon. In an article titled “You Are a Suspect,” William Safire writes in The New York Times: Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e- mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend--all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as ‘a virtual, centralized grand database.’ 5 Cf. David Lyon on the notion of “Surveillance Society.” 6 No wonder, surveillance is a $100 billion industry. 7 As Steve Mann writes, “For decades, the notion of a ‘surveillance society’ where every facet of our private life is monitored and recorded has sounded abstract, paranoid or far-fetched to some people. No more!…” (Mann 1998: 140). Abbes Maazaoui 9 To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you-- passport application, driver's license and toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance--and you have the supersnoop's dream: a ‘Total Information Awareness’ about every U.S. citizen. This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario. The Vicious Circle of Fear and Surveillance Obviously, not all forms of surveillance are bad. Surveillance may be used to deter crime, monitor road congestion, or investigate climate change. However, when fear is the main justification for surveillance, it opens up a can of untasteful worms. The logic of fear is predicated on the assumption that the more surveillance one engages in, the safer one becomes.