Matthew Abbey
Biographic Data
| ID | 905772 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew Abbey |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew |
| FAMILY NAME | Abbey |
| SIGNATURE | ABBEY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Warwick |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3961-1223 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Void of Surveillance
Surveillance studies has long drawn on Michel Foucault’s (1977) panopticon and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s (1987) assemblage to analyse how surveillance functions and its many societal effects. More recently, there has been a particular emphasis on how profiles, otherwise known as data doubles, have played an increased role in surveillance using artificial intelligence. While this scholarship has explored how data are gathered and analyse…
A Critique of Surveillant Assemblage
Haggerty and Ericson’s theorisation of the surveillant assemblage has greatly influenced scholarship in surveillance studies since its publication at the turn of the century. In this brief article, we build on Haggerty and Ericson’s legacy by bringing elements from feminist, new materialist, and Actor-Network theories into the discussion
Calculating Deaths, Dystopic Futures
From climate apocalypses to techno-dystopias, many film genres offer novel insights into social theories about our potentially violent futures. Analysing Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer (2013), this article argues that the film does more than raise ethical questions about the quantitative management of life and death; it explores what happens when the violence of statistics is pushed to its extreme. Through visualising extreme hierarchies of violence …
Estimating the Future of Migration
This article explores the links between race, climate change, and the militarization of border control in the United States and the European Union, focusing on the growing number of attempts to estimate the future of migration. It argues that these estimates, particularly those focused on the number of “climate refugees,” are not only undertaken for security or humanitarian purposes but also to justify the militarization of borders. In light of a…
Truths, fakes and the deserving queer migrant
This article explores the role of truth within queer migration. By analysing a host of cultural production – including the verbatim theatre performance Rights of Passage by Claire Summerskill, the short film Crypsis by Christopher McGill, the ethnofictional film Samira by Nicola Mai, and the film The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson – I will challenge the necessity of attempting to discover the truth of queer migrant…
Beyond intelligibility
This article explores the haunting aspects of queer migration within two documentary films: Season of Migration to the North (Laumann 2015), a film about a queer Sudanese migrant who fled to Norway after hosting a fashion show, and Shelter: Farewell to Eden (Masi 2019), a film about a Filipino transgender migrant navigating European borders. Instead of focusing on how the films make the protagonists intelligible, I focus on how absences are conju…
Queer Migration and the Performance of Crime and Illegality
In this article, I focus on how activism and art disrupt the necessity of queer migrants having to perform the role of the “good,” law-abiding migrant who desires inclusion into the nation. More specifically, I analyze how performing crime and illegality challenges the necessity of queer migrants who claim asylum adhering to stereotypes of vulnerability so as to be seen as deserving of legal status. First, I examine the #Rockumenta activism by LG…
Performing for the camera
This article explores cultural production on queer migrant sex work. More specifically, I critically analyse a photography series by Bradley Secker titled Sexugees and a short documentary film by Manuel Abramovich titled Blue Boy. Despite sex work featuring in many narratives on queer migration, this is often treated as one marginal aspect of broader experiences. Sexugees and Blue Boy take an alternative approach by centring sex work. Instead of …
Queer Performance on the Border
Queer migrants seeking asylum in Europe face both heteronormative and homonormative assumptions about their subjectivity. Yet these assumptions are not simply adhered to for the sake of intelligibility. This article will explore how cultural production challenges the heteronormativity and homonormativity of European immigration regimes in both On the Bride’s Side (a 2014 documentary directed by Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, Antonio Augugliaro, and G…
Refugees welcome’, including in (gay) porn
In 2017, the porn film Refugee’s Welcome was released, directed by Canadian pornographer Bruce LaBruce. Using the ‘Refugees Welcome’ slogan popularized in Germany following the arrival of a growing number of refugees, LaBruce individualizes the narrative through the fictional story of Moonif, a young gay Syrian refugee who explores his sexuality upon arrival in Berlin. Indeed, a broader porn genre has emerged involving the depiction of refugees. …
The Void of Surveillance
Surveillance studies has long drawn on Michel Foucault’s (1977) panopticon and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s (1987) assemblage to analyse how surveillance functions and its many societal effects. More recently, there has been a particular emphasis on how profiles, otherwise known as data doubles, have played an increased role in surveillance using artificial intelligence. While this scholarship has explored how data are gathered and analyse…
Estimating the Future of Migration
This article explores the links between race, climate change, and the militarization of border control in the United States and the European Union, focusing on the growing number of attempts to estimate the future of migration. It argues that these estimates, particularly those focused on the number of “climate refugees,” are not only undertaken for security or humanitarian purposes but also to justify the militarization of borders. In light of a…
Queer Performance on the Border
Queer migrants seeking asylum in Europe face both heteronormative and homonormative assumptions about their subjectivity. Yet these assumptions are not simply adhered to for the sake of intelligibility. This article will explore how cultural production challenges the heteronormativity and homonormativity of European immigration regimes in both On the Bride’s Side (a 2014 documentary directed by Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, Antonio Augugliaro, and G…
Refugees welcome’, including in (gay) porn
In 2017, the porn film Refugee’s Welcome was released, directed by Canadian pornographer Bruce LaBruce. Using the ‘Refugees Welcome’ slogan popularized in Germany following the arrival of a growing number of refugees, LaBruce individualizes the narrative through the fictional story of Moonif, a young gay Syrian refugee who explores his sexuality upon arrival in Berlin. Indeed, a broader porn genre has emerged involving the depiction of refugees. …
Refugees welcome’, including in (gay) porn
In 2017, the porn film Refugee’s Welcome was released, directed by Canadian pornographer Bruce LaBruce. Using the ‘Refugees Welcome’ slogan popularized in Germany following the arrival of a growing number of refugees, LaBruce individualizes the narrative through the fictional story of Moonif, a young gay Syrian refugee who explores his sexuality upon arrival in Berlin. Indeed, a broader porn genre has emerged involving the depiction of refugees. …
Performing for the camera
This article explores cultural production on queer migrant sex work. More specifically, I critically analyse a photography series by Bradley Secker titled Sexugees and a short documentary film by Manuel Abramovich titled Blue Boy. Despite sex work featuring in many narratives on queer migration, this is often treated as one marginal aspect of broader experiences. Sexugees and Blue Boy take an alternative approach by centring sex work. Instead of …
Queer Performance on the Border
Queer migrants seeking asylum in Europe face both heteronormative and homonormative assumptions about their subjectivity. Yet these assumptions are not simply adhered to for the sake of intelligibility. This article will explore how cultural production challenges the heteronormativity and homonormativity of European immigration regimes in both On the Bride’s Side (a 2014 documentary directed by Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, Antonio Augugliaro, and G…
Beyond intelligibility
This article explores the haunting aspects of queer migration within two documentary films: Season of Migration to the North (Laumann 2015), a film about a queer Sudanese migrant who fled to Norway after hosting a fashion show, and Shelter: Farewell to Eden (Masi 2019), a film about a Filipino transgender migrant navigating European borders. Instead of focusing on how the films make the protagonists intelligible, I focus on how absences are conju…
Queer Migration and the Performance of Crime and Illegality
In this article, I focus on how activism and art disrupt the necessity of queer migrants having to perform the role of the “good,” law-abiding migrant who desires inclusion into the nation. More specifically, I analyze how performing crime and illegality challenges the necessity of queer migrants who claim asylum adhering to stereotypes of vulnerability so as to be seen as deserving of legal status. First, I examine the #Rockumenta activism by LG…
Truths, fakes and the deserving queer migrant
This article explores the role of truth within queer migration. By analysing a host of cultural production – including the verbatim theatre performance Rights of Passage by Claire Summerskill, the short film Crypsis by Christopher McGill, the ethnofictional film Samira by Nicola Mai, and the film The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson – I will challenge the necessity of attempting to discover the truth of queer migrant…
The Void of Surveillance
Surveillance studies has long drawn on Michel Foucault’s (1977) panopticon and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s (1987) assemblage to analyse how surveillance functions and its many societal effects. More recently, there has been a particular emphasis on how profiles, otherwise known as data doubles, have played an increased role in surveillance using artificial intelligence. While this scholarship has explored how data are gathered and analyse…
A Critique of Surveillant Assemblage
Haggerty and Ericson’s theorisation of the surveillant assemblage has greatly influenced scholarship in surveillance studies since its publication at the turn of the century. In this brief article, we build on Haggerty and Ericson’s legacy by bringing elements from feminist, new materialist, and Actor-Network theories into the discussion
Calculating Deaths, Dystopic Futures
From climate apocalypses to techno-dystopias, many film genres offer novel insights into social theories about our potentially violent futures. Analysing Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer (2013), this article argues that the film does more than raise ethical questions about the quantitative management of life and death; it explores what happens when the violence of statistics is pushed to its extreme. Through visualising extreme hierarchies of violence …
Estimating the Future of Migration
This article explores the links between race, climate change, and the militarization of border control in the United States and the European Union, focusing on the growing number of attempts to estimate the future of migration. It argues that these estimates, particularly those focused on the number of “climate refugees,” are not only undertaken for security or humanitarian purposes but also to justify the militarization of borders. In light of a…
Gender Studies (6 works) · Queer (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues (5 works) · Art (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (4 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)