Peripheral Vision

Catarina Frois is Invited Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Lisbon University Institute and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Research in Anthropology, Portugal. Her publications include The Anonymous Society: Identity, Transformation and Anonymity in 12-Step Associations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009) and Vigilância e Poder (Mundos Sociais, 2011).

• List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Politics, technology and surveillancePeripheral Vision‘Surveillance studies’Anthropology, politics and policiesNotes on methodology and ethicsChapter 1. From dictatorship to democracy Backwardness as a syndromePolitical modernization: Salazar’s Estado Novo and the carnation revolutionThe country’s modernization: entry into the EEC and structural reformsFighting backwardness through technology: the Socrates EraChapter 2. Eye in the skyThe eye behind the eyeVideo surveillance in Portugal: Law No. 1/2005The National Video Surveillance ProgramVideo surveillance in the zona da Ribeira do PortoVideo surveillance in Baixa PombalinaThe protection of thousandsFirst evaluation of CCTV in public areasChapter 3. Policy-making: successes, failures, contradictionsData Protection AuthorityPolice forcePolitical forces and party strategies'Forgotten’ diagnosisChapter 4. Public Matters, Private Issues Public and private: a matter of opinionVideo surveillance: security and its nuancesPrivacy: a right for everyone?Chapter 5. The Quest for SecurityBarometers of (In)securityWhere danger comes fromFear, politics, economyConclusion: Modernization and BackwardnessReferences

“This is a valuable contribution to the field of surveillance studies, in that it broadens the perspective of many aspects of research on surveillance through political anthropology; and it adds a considerable perspective to anthropology itself, as it concentrates on surveillance as a phenomenon of anthropological research, proving it to be an important aspect of societies today, or even seen in a wider context, of societies in general.”  ·  Nils Zurawski, Hamburg University“The author is not doing the usual technocentric study, but a sociopolitical, anthropological analysis with a critical theoretical and empirical approach, seriously considering the prolonged authoritarian surveillance past and its legacy, as well as the socioeconomic backwardness of this Southern European country.”  ·  Minas Samatas, University of Crete