School of Sociology HDR student Kaima Negishi has been awarded the Surveillance and Society prize for early career researchers 2013-2014 for his paper “From Surveillant Text to Surveilling Device: The face in urban transit spaces” which was published by the journal Surveillance and Society in 2013. His paper examines the changing role of the face as an agent of social control. In the context of Japanese railway stations, Kaima’s paper shows how faces have too often been viewed in the literature as merely passive objects of surveillance. In contrast, and based on extensive fieldwork in Tokyo, he shows how faces actually take a much more active part in how transit spaces are controlled and secured. The full paper can be accessed here: http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/face. Kaima is currently completing his PhD entitled “Modulating the face for control: Understanding smiling, comfort and security in Japanese Railway Stations”.

Here is the link to the award page: http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/announcement/view/91