Surveillance and the Dossier

Surveillance and the Dossier delves into how dossiers, both paper-based and digital, have been used by governments both historically and in contemporary times to inflict various forms of violence upon the public, including psychological, physical, and reputational.
This volume establishes dossier creation as the foundational practice of all bureaucracies, despite differences in how it has been weaponized as a technique of power by different systems. In nine case studies, ranging from police dossiers in Nazi Germany to China's Hukou family dossier system, this book examines the evolution of surveillance in societies. Surveillance and society researchers Cristina Plamadeala and Özgün Erdener Topak engage in a diverse yet comprehensive study of this surveillance tool, looking at examples such as dossiers implicating former members of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), dossiers used in Cold War-era Australia to monitor migrants from the Soviet Union, dossiers of colonial Japan’s Unit 731, deployed in Manchukuo, in Northeast China, and dossiers mobilized for Canada’s World War II conscription program. Deeply relevant and imperative, Surveillance and the Dossier seeks to understand the links between the infliction of state-violence and surveillance.
This book demonstrates that dossiers serve as a valuable platform for understanding the past and present of surveillance societies across governments and countries.

Cristina Plamadeala is the founder of the Dossierveillance Project and has taught at Concordia University, McGill University, and Sciences Po.
Özgün Erdener Topak is associate professor of social science at York University and associate editor of Surveillance & Society.