TY - JOUR

T1 - Panopticons within panopticons

T2 - surveillance inversions in Willie Doherty’s video installations

AU - Blair, Paula

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - From the understanding that postcolonialism is linked to power structures, and that surveillance activity is a means for knowledge acquisition, this article considers different ways of seeing/being seen as avenues for gaining control. It addresses such notions with reference to Northern Ireland, a region in the UK confused over its colonial/postcolonial identity, and takes into consideration its geopolitical position as well as its internal complex web of sociopolitical relations. It argues that control occurs at both state and popular culture levels, and that mass media involve a different kind of colonization – which can be seen as psychological. Advancing technologies allow for different kinds of invasion/occupation, and technomediated modes of modern living come complete with adapted exclusions and inclusions. These issues are explored through analysis of video installations by Derry artist Willie Doherty, and with reference to Belfast writer Ciaran Carson’s essay “Intelligence” from Belfast Confetti – both Doherty and Carson focus on “watching” in the (conflicted/occupied) cityscape and the way it affects perception, language and identity. These issues of control and status are discussed here in the light of Foucault’s theorizing of the panopticon and Bhabha’s notions of mimicry and ambivalence.

AB - From the understanding that postcolonialism is linked to power structures, and that surveillance activity is a means for knowledge acquisition, this article considers different ways of seeing/being seen as avenues for gaining control. It addresses such notions with reference to Northern Ireland, a region in the UK confused over its colonial/postcolonial identity, and takes into consideration its geopolitical position as well as its internal complex web of sociopolitical relations. It argues that control occurs at both state and popular culture levels, and that mass media involve a different kind of colonization – which can be seen as psychological. Advancing technologies allow for different kinds of invasion/occupation, and technomediated modes of modern living come complete with adapted exclusions and inclusions. These issues are explored through analysis of video installations by Derry artist Willie Doherty, and with reference to Belfast writer Ciaran Carson’s essay “Intelligence” from Belfast Confetti – both Doherty and Carson focus on “watching” in the (conflicted/occupied) cityscape and the way it affects perception, language and identity. These issues of control and status are discussed here in the light of Foucault’s theorizing of the panopticon and Bhabha’s notions of mimicry and ambivalence.

KW - Willie Doherty

KW - Ciaran Carson

KW - surveillance technologies

KW - social control

KW - video installations

KW - Northern Ireland

U2 - 10.1080/17449855.2013.842775

DO - 10.1080/17449855.2013.842775

M3 - Journal article

VL - 49

SP - 539

EP - 551

JO - Journal of Postcolonial Writing

JF - Journal of Postcolonial Writing

SN - 1744-9855

IS - 5

ER -