Sousveillance

Sousveillance, from the French words sous (below) and veiller (watch), means “to watch from below.” Conceptually, it is positioned as a resistive force that challenges surveillance societies. A nuanced term sousveillance must be discussed both as a technology and as a social practice, and the various ways its conceptualization has changed as technologies and social practices have evolved. As sousveillance has moved from the avant-garde to the mainstream since the mid-1980s, it is helpful to reflect on the relationship between ubiquitous sousveillance and ubiquitous surveillance—a condition that our society is fast approaching—and to consider the implications for sousveillance’s contemporary resistive potential.