The citizen drone: protest, sousveillance and droneviewing

Abstract

In this article we will discuss the use of drones, as well as the visual simulation of drone afforded aesthetics, by activists, artists and protesters. We use the existing literature of surveillance studies and visual studies to examine how exactly a drone-afforded visibility emerges and how it mediates the visibility of a particular community or space of contention. We draw on the concepts of “surveillance capacities” and (counter) visibility practices to analyse the process and production of drone (and drone-simulated) counter surveillant artist/activist visibility. The article makes several key points. The first one concerns the construction of protest space and the protest site volumetrically from the airborne perspective of the citizen drone via an assemblage of artist/activist practices. These practices include the use of drones, as well as drone-simulated imagery. The latter includes, DIY aerial camera rigs attached to kites and the use visual social media platforms such as Instagram to curate otherwise less visible military drone geographies more ‘real’ and proximate. The second concerns the visibility of subjects engaged in the protest space. And finally, we elaborate how events are presented dynamically (rhythmically) through drone videos and a drone-afforded visual grammar. Our assumption is that drones, as well as drone-simulated imagery allow the user to generate a hybrid participative (inclusive) visibility that makes protest more spectacular through its volumetric vision, subverting the visibility of control while striving for visibility of recognition. Overall, this article seeks to further elaborate on the visual turn within sociology, specifically in relation to what are now commonplace volumetric practices of power, representation and participation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to extend their gratitude to the photographers who generously donated their images for reproduction in this article. These include Rocco Rorandelli and Hagit Keysar. We also acknowledge the valuable and helpful comments of three anonymous referees.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-40595540.Accessed 15.01.2019

[2] https://qz.com/256 104/china-is-now-using-drones-to-catch-terrorists-in-xinjiang/ Accessed 25.01.2019.

[3] http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/arctic-spy-drones-a-defence-concern-as-russia-expands-reach-1.2953027 Accessed 06.01.2019.

[4] On protest policing see Della Porta, Peterson, and Reiter (2006); on visibility and new modes of policing see Spiller and L’Hoiry (2019).

[5] A reference to the optimum altitude at which a US Air Force drone can identify targets on the ground.

[6] http://www.bjp-online.com/2017/08/rifles-surveillance-and-civilians-in-miki-kratsmans-the-resolution-of-the-suspect/#closeContactFormCust00 Accessed 12.01.2019.

[7] War at a Distance: Derek Gregory – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUDaZr5JScs Accessed 10.08.2019.

[8] For an engaging discussion of this photo and others on a similar theme, see ‘The Visual Framing of the Migrant Crisis’ Salon discussion on ‘Reading the Picture’ chaired by Philipp Batta, December 15 2015 – https://www.readingthepictures.org/2015/12/great-exodus-look-migrant-crisis-pictured-media/- accessed 17 December 2019.

[9] Eventually, the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) had been ordered to shut down by 5 August 2020 so that an environmental impact assessment report could be undertaken. See https://earth.org/dakota-access-pipeline-ordered-to-temporarily-shut-down/ Accessed 12 September 2020.

[10] On watchful politics and vigilant visuality, see Amoore (2007).

[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5QW3H_0FiM&t=219s Accessed 07.11.2019.

[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YUK1ZokhmA Accessed 05.03.2019.

Additional information

Funding

The revision of this text was financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal through the Strategic Financing of the R&D Unit UID/SOC/03126/2019.

Notes on contributors

Dennis Zuev

Dennis Zuev (City University of Macau, Macau, China; CIES-ISCTE, IUL, Portugal; and Instituto do Oriente, UL, Portugal) co-edited Sociology of the Visual Sphere (together with R. Nathansohn, Routledge, 2013) and co-authored Visual Sociology: Politics and Practices in Contested Spaces (together with G. Bratchford, Palgrave MacMillan, 2020). He has conducted visual sociological research on YouTube, tourist practices and protest events.

Gary Bratchford is President of the International Sociological Associations (ISA) Visual Sociology Research Committee (RC57), Co-Editor of Visual Studies Journal and Co-author (with Dennis Zuev) of Visual Sociology: Politics and Practices in Contested Spaces: Palgrave MacMillan (2020).

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.