The first steps I took in researching my deeper dive topic with the rest of my pod was to search the UVIC library. The first resource that caught my eye was Digital Surveillance in Southern Africa: Polices, Politics and Practices by Allen Munoriyarwa and Admire Mare. The book covers the many methods of public and digital surveillance and the political justifications involved in establishing and maintaining it. The book’s preface states that surveillance is becoming increasingly common in the world and South Africa is becoming an especially bad case due to the lack of transparency and regulations, and the politicized nature of surveillance in South Africa.
Munoriyarwa and Mare detail the variety of methods used by the South African government and corporations to push for a greater surveillance methods. They explain how public surveillance companies promote fear in order to get their customers’ business:
Overall, the book is a good resource covering the general methods and the coercive political environment that makes this kind of wide-scale surveillance possible. An excellent resource, and not just for its ability to inform in the situation in South Africa, since it gives a picture of the extreme lengths that can be reached when wide-ranging surveillance is normalized.
Munoriyarwa, A., & Mare, A. (2022). Digital Surveillance in Southern Africa : Policies, Politics and Practices (1st ed. 2022.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16636-5