Differential Surveillance of Students: Encounters with Surveillance/Sousveillance Art as Opportunities for Reform

Abstract

In the post-9/11 media context, it is crucial to examine how higher education institutions are negotiating and grappling with the diverse needs of the hundreds of thousands of international students who are pursuing post-secondary studies in the United States. In my paper, I examine a recent change to United States policy that subjects international students to increased surveillance and violates these students’ human rights. I contend that higher education institutions need to take a more active role in advocating on behalf of international students’ privacy and access to democratic education. I argue that encounters with surveillance and sousveillance digital media art can provide opportunities to work toward ending the differential surveillance of international students and promoting democratic education for international students in the United States.