Introducing Vigilant Audiences

Ever since the exposure of the Kitten Killer of Hangshou captured the imagination of online communities world-wide, vigilantism and digilantism has come to the fore as an emerging and poignant issue. In their book Introducing Vigilant Audiences Daniel Trottier and colleagues (and contributors) have produced an excellent and throughtful ‘must read’ for all who are studying vigilantism, or just interested in it.

'Introducing Vigilant Audiences' does a great job of delivering on the promise to introduce the relatively novel topic of digital vigilantism and its breadth of application to contemporary readers. With its twelve chapters and array of authors from across the globe, it is packed with relevant case studies that provide evidence of the recurrent dynamics that such vigilantism creates, and of the diverse forms it may take according to the different contexts in which it is practiced. The richness of empirical examples makes this edited book a fascinating read and reduces the need for prior familiarity with theories in this field (which makes it suitable for undergraduate students). While I believe this book may be interesting for many scholars of racial and ethnic studies, social movements studies, and technology and society, surveillance scholars in particular can benefit from it by learning how surveillance practices are used in order to promote social and political goals.