State Sovereignty, Personal Sovereignty, and the Evolving Optics of the State
This talk explores how digital media challenge both state and personal sovereignty, reshaping power and visibility in an era of surveillance and projection.
State Sovereignty, Personal Sovereignty, and the Evolving Optics of the State
09 Dec 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
Join us this week for our Human Geography Seminar with Professor Paul C. Adams (UT Austin), who will discuss how digital media are reshaping state and personal sovereignty in a rapidly shifting political landscape.
Drawing on debates around state power, visibility and digital media, Professor Paul C. Adams examines how emerging technologies are reshaping both state and personal sovereignty. His talk considers whether today’s “spectacular state” is shifting from making citizens visible to projecting idealised and demonised images, highlighting how digital surveillance, data control and behavioural modelling are transforming relations between individuals and the state.
Paul C. Adams is a geographer and Erich W. Zimmermann Regents Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, studying media, communication, and the geographies of power. He has held visiting appointments worldwide, founded the AAG’s Communication Geography Specialty Group, and authored key works on media and digital disconnection. He also serves as Human Geography Editor for the Annals of the AAG.
Digital Sovereignty
Digital media are creating new challenges to state sovereignty in the form of international hacking, cyber-warfare, loss of state control over citizen data, and cross-border diffusion of facts and ideas.
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Expert in media geographies, digital communication, state and personal sovereignty, and the sociospatial impacts of technology
UCL Human Geography Seminar Series – weekly on Tuesdays, 1–2pm, NWW 304
This seminar is part of the UCL Human Geography Seminar Series, held every Tuesday during term time from 1–2pm in NWW 304. The series features leading scholars exploring diverse topics across human geography. All staff, students, and visitors are welcome to attend.
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Further information
Ticketing
Open
Cost
Free
Open to
UCL staff
Availability
Yes
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