Brian Schram

Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at University of Waterloo
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Welcome. My name is Brian Schram, and I am a surveillance scholar and graduate of the Ph.D. program in Sociology & Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. My current research examines the political economies of late/ cyber/ bio-capitalism and how advances in mass-surveillance technology, biotechnology, and human/computer interaction augment the expression of state or post-statist political power.

I am particularly interested in investigating the sociotechnical implications of humanity’s (potential) “off-planet” future(s) and the politically-charged discourses that surround it. Here, I examine how questions of our extraterrestrial survival are taken up, studied, and contrasted with, or transposed over our presently-held understandings of capitalism, surveillance, sex, gender, race, futurity, and extinction.

In addition to my work in surveillance studies, I have also published in the areas of queer theory, border studies, qualitative methodology, and studio/game studies.

My dissertation, titled “Queering Surveilance and Surveilling Queerness: The Techno-Social Making of Queer Identity in the US and Canada, 1939-Present” sprung from my interest in the collision between surveillance studies and queer theory and centred on the techno-social coevolution of technologies of apprehension/classification and modes of inhabited sexual alterity. There, I investigated how psychiatric medicine, policing, military screening practices, digitization, and the logistics of warfare came together to both produce and foreclose up opportunities for sexual self-fashioning and identification.

During my tenure at the University of Waterloo, I was the recipient of numerous competitive awards, including: an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS); a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant (SSHRC); The Iris Yuzdepski Memorial Graduate Award; The Arts Senate Research Grant; and the President’s Graduate Scholarship on two separate occasions.


Education

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Waterloo

2022
Committee:
  • Dr. Jennifer Whitson (Supervisor)
  • Dr. Daniel O'Connor
  • Dr. Kathryn Henne
  • Dr. Daniel Cockayne
  • Dr. Lorna Weir

M.A., Public Issues Anthropology, University of Waterloo

2015

B.A. (Hons.), Anthropology, University of Waterloo

2012

Publications

Articles in Peer Reviewed Journals

  • Perks, M., P. Felan, J. Whitson, B. Simon, G. Lavenir, C. Yolgormez, P. Browne, and B. Schram. (2019). "Autonomy, Integration, and the Work of Cultural Intermediation in Indie Games." Media Industries 6 (2): 18-38.
  • Schram, B. (2019). "Accidental Orientations: Rethinking Queerness in Archival Times." Surveillance and Society 17 (5): 602-617.
  • Schram, B. (2019). "Virtual Power &Virtual Resistance: Field Notes from the Future of Big Data." The Disestablishmentarian. (3)1. Pp: 16-26.

Articles in Edited Journals

  • Schram, B., and J. R. Whitson. (2018). "Why a Humanist Ethics of Datafication Can't Survive a Posthuman World." Electronic Book Review. Np. July 1. Riposte Essay.

Chapters in Edited Collections

  • Schram, B. R. (Under Review). "A Crooked Line: The Geography of the Closet and the U.S. / Canada Border as a Performative Boundary." In The Other Border. Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Browne, P., and B. R. Schram. (2021). "Intermediating the Everyday: Indie Game Development and the Labour of Co-Working Spaces." In Game Production Studies. Eds. Jan Svelch, Olli Sotamaa. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press.

Book Reviews

  • Schram, B. (2018). Review of Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Technology and the Culture of Surveillance. Security Journal 31:924-926.
  • Schram, B. (2016). Review of Expanding the Gaze: Gender and the Politics of Surveillance. Canadian Journal of Sociology 41(4): 589-592.

Papers Given

Schram, B. 2023. "Strange Bedfellows: Surveillance, National Security, and the Making of Gay Male Identity From 1939-1970." The Canadian Sociological Association. Toronto, ON. May 31.

Schram, B., 2020. "A Crooked Line: The Geography of the Closet and the U.S. / Canada Border as a Performative Boundary". The American Sociological Association. San Francisco, CA. August 8-11. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

Schram, B., 2020. "Ahmed in the Upside Down: Queer Affect and the Machines that Feel it", The Canadian Sociological Society, Symposium for Early Career Theorists. June 1-4. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

Schram, B., 2020. "Strange Bedfellows: "Queer Surveillance, National Security, and Affective Possibility, from 1939-2000". The Canadian Sociological Association." Western University. London, ON. June 1-4. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

Schram, B., (presenting coauthor) R. Robinson. 2018. "Enchanting the Archive: When Rock and Mineral Speak." Techne. Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, ON. April 13.

Schram, B. 2017. "Accidental Orientations: When Big Data Performs Without Permission." Surveillance Studies Summer Seminar. Queens University, Kingston, ON. June 15-21.

Schram, B. 2016. "Gaming and Privacy: Problems and Prescriptions." Canadian Sociological Association General Meeting (CSA@Congress). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. May 30-June 3.

Schram, B. 2016. "A New Queer for a New Age: Thinking Beyond Identity Politics in the Era of Continuous Control." Canadian Sociological Association General Meeting (CSA@Congress). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. May 30-June 3.

Schram, B. 2016. "Queer Resistance in the Digital Age." Engage. University of Guelph, Guelph ON. March 12.

Schram, B. 2014. "Thinking Queerly: Brain Scans, Identity Politics, and the Problem of Neurolocalization." Canadian Anthropology Society General Meeting (CASCA). York University, Toronto, ON. April 30-May 3.


Teaching Experience

Courses Taught

  • Surveillance and Society
  • Advanced Seminar in Contemporary Theory
  • Contemporary Theory
  • Classical Theory
  • Sociology of the Law

Teaching Assistantships

  • Anthropological Theory
  • Introduction to Criminology
  • Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
  • Introduction to Social Statistics
  • Introduction to Sociological Theory
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Sociological Methods
  • Statistics for Arts Students

Guest Lectures

Schram, B. 2019. "Ethical Challenges in Qualitative Research: Lessons from the Field". Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Sociological Methods, Zachary Munro. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. October 11.

Schram, B. 2017. "Surveilling Sexuality in the Past and Present." Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Sexuality & the Law, Dr. Vanessa Iafolla. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. October 3.

Schram, B. 2017. "Who is designing & who are they designing for?" Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Games and Gamers, Dr. Jennifer Whitson. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. October 2.

Schram, B. 2017. "Ethical Considerations in Participatory Action Research." Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Field Research Methods, Dr. Geraldina Polanco. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. March 2.

Schram, B. 2016. "Homonationalism as Governance Part II." Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Sexuality & the Law, Dr. Vanessa Iafolla. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. November 16.

Schram, B. 2016. "Homonationalism as Governance." Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. Sexuality & the Law, Dr. Vanessa Iafolla. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. November 14.

Schram, B. 2016. "Gentrification, Housing Precarity, and Structural Inequality in Post-Financial Crisis America." Guest Lecture in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies: Games & Gamers, Dr. Jennifer Whitson. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. September 28.


Public Engagement

Schram, B., Islam, A., Dea, S., Johnson, C.W., Khaki, E.F., Mazhar, F., Murphy, S. 2016. "Waterloo, Let's talk. Pulse, Orlando." Public Panel at Kitchener Public Library, November 10.

  • One of two event organizers (panel participants listed as co-authors). Invited, and prepared panelists, both academic and non-academic. Sought and located funding both within and outside the University. Developed panel program. Managed public engagement and advertising. Acted as liaison between several academic departments and hosting venue. Wrote post-event write-up for University of Waterloo Alumni Services.

    • Schram, B. 2016. "A Response to Wendel Wallach." Imprint [Waterloo] 22/02/2016. Np.