Resisting the spiral of silence : reflections on Thomas Mathiesen’s contributions to surveillance studies, social silencing and abolitionism

Canning, Victoria (2024) Resisting the spiral of silence : reflections on Thomas Mathiesen’s contributions to surveillance studies, social silencing and abolitionism. Justice, Power and Resistance, 7 (2). pp. 198-204. ISSN 2635-2338

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Abstract

In late 2021, some six months after his death, the University of Oslo held a commemoration of the work of Professor Thomas Mathiesen. As this issue of Justice, Power and Resistance will attest, Mathiesen cut across definitions of theorist, scholar, pedagogue and archetypal academic activist. In this short intervention, I pay tribute to the influence Thomas’ work has had not only on my own, but on so many interventions around injustice and ever-expanding aspects of surveillant social controls which proliferate contemporarily. In doing so, this short article will highlight an overview of his most recognised work, before delving into a perspective that I consider to be more relevant than ever: Mathiesen’s conceptualisation of ‘silent silencing’ (Mathiesen, 2004). Overall, this contribution seeks to remind those new to studies of harm and social control of the value of critical work which came before us, and the need to engage, reflect and rebuild perspectives such as Mathiesen’s in ways which are meaningful to contemporary problems and optimal (abolitionist) solutions.