Shifting States

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This collection features 13 chapters selected from over 400 papers presented at the 'Shifting States' conference in 2017 at the University of Adelaide. The chosen works are noted for their empirical depth and theoretical engagement with the theme of state agency and its interplay with surveillance, bureaucracy, infrastructure, and personhood, addressing various contemporary issues. Part I, 'Dialectics of Security, Surveillance and Struggle', explores state organization and security within late-capitalism and technological saturation, drawing examples from Aboriginal Australia and urban North America, including militarization, post-colonial settlements, and migration politics. Part II, 'Ethnographies of Infrastructure: Assemblage, Experimentation and Mobilization', presents ethnographies of industrial, energy, and transportation infrastructures, examining how large-scale projects reflect governmental aspirations and create new state-citizen interactions, with cases from Latin America, Post-Socialist Europe, and Southeast Asia, focusing on contingency, citizenship, and human security. Part III, 'Sensory States, and their Contingent Citizenries', delves into the sensory aspects of state formations, discussing embodiment and affect politics, with examples from Australia, Europe, and the Pacific, including public health interventions and the broader implications of biomedical power and intimate relations.