Department of Communication & Media Studies
department-of-communication-and-media-studies
Heynen
Rob
rheynen
false
yes
Rob Heynen
Department of Communication & Media Studies
department-of-communication-and-media-studies
Associate Professor
Office: Victor Phillip Dahdaleh (DB) Building, 3040
Phone: (416)736-2100 Ext: 77405
Email: rheynen@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
Professor Heynen’s research interests are in surveillance and critical data studies, radical culture and politics, media and cultural theory, critical perspectives on anti-human trafficking, and mediations of the border. Current research projects focus on biometric surveillance, data and AI in anti-human trafficking policing, and the contemporary resurgence of eugenics. Earlier work looked at radical cultures of the Weimar period in Germany, and he continues to write on historical and contemporary visual culture and radical politics.
More...
Degrees
PhD, Social & Political Thought, York UniversityMA, History, University of Alberta
BA, History and Political Science, McGill University
Research Interests
Communications
, Visual Arts, Surveillance studies, Communication and cultural theory, Radical culture and politics,
Critical data studies and AI
Books
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen, eds. (2019). Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2019
Book Chapters
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert (2024). Data-driven policing and whole-of-society anti-trafficking strategies. In Katrin Roots, Ann de Shalit, and Emily van der Meulen, eds. Trafficking Harms: Critical perspectives on human trafficking in Canada. Fernwood.
2024
Heynen, Robert (2019). The German Revolution and the Reshaping of the Radical Right. In J. Muldoon, ed., The German Revolution and Political Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3-32
2019
van der Meulen, Emily and Robert Heynen (2019). Unpacking State Surveillance: Histories, Theories, and Global Contexts. In R. Heynen and E. van der Meulen, eds., Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 3-30.
2019
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2016). ‘Gendered Visions: Reimagining Surveillance Studies,’ in van der Meulen and Heynen, eds., Expanding the Gaze: Gender and the Politics of Surveillance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2016
Journal Articles
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2022). Anti-Trafficking Saviours: Celebrity, Slavery, and Branded Activism. Crime, Media, Culture 18(2): 301-323
2022
Heynen, Robert (2020). Biometric Aesthetics: Towards a Critical Theory of the Biometric Body. Public: Art, Culture, Ideas 60 (special issue on ‘Biometrics: Mediating Bodies’): 108-125.
2020
Heynen, Robert (2018). ‘Cultures of Confinement: Health, Illness, and Madness in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Magic Mountain.’ Modernism/Modernity 25(4): 683-708.
2018
Heynen, Robert (2016). ‘From Science to Fashion: Photography and the Production of a Surrogate Colony in Weimar Germany,’ History of Photography. 40(2).
2016
Durisin, Elya and Robert Heynen (2016). ‘Producing the “Trafficked Woman”: Canadian Newspaper Reporting on Eastern European Exotic Dancers During the 1990s,’ Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice. 37(2).
2016
Wright, Jordana, Robert Heynen, and Emily van der Meulen (2015). ‘“It depends on who you are, what you are”: ‘Community Safety’ and Sex Workers’ Experience with Surveillance,’ Surveillance & Society 13(2), pp. 265-282.
2015
De Shalit, Ann, Robert Heynen, and Emily van der Meulen (2014). ‘Human Trafficking and Media Myths: Federal Funding, Communication Strategies, and Canadian Anti-Trafficking Programs,’ Canadian Journal of Communication 39(3), pp. 385-412.
2014
Heynen, Robert (2012). ‘Socialism from the Right? Aesthetics, Politics and the Counter-Revolution in Weimar Germany,’ New Formations 75, pp. 82-98.
2012
Heynen, Robert (2000). ‘Making Soviet Nations,’ Socialist Studies Bulletin 60, pp. 5-26.
2000
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | GS/CMCT6335 3.0 | M | Selected Topics in Politics and Policy | SEMR |
| Winter 2025 | AP/CMDS4740 3.0 | M | Surveillance, media, and society | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CMDS1000 6.0 | A | Introduction to Communication & Media | LECT |
Professor Heynen’s research interests are in surveillance and critical data studies, radical culture and politics, media and cultural theory, critical perspectives on anti-human trafficking, and mediations of the border. Current research projects focus on biometric surveillance, data and AI in anti-human trafficking policing, and the contemporary resurgence of eugenics. Earlier work looked at radical cultures of the Weimar period in Germany, and he continues to write on historical and contemporary visual culture and radical politics.
Degrees
PhD, Social & Political Thought, York UniversityMA, History, University of Alberta
BA, History and Political Science, McGill University
Research Interests
Communications
, Visual Arts, Surveillance studies, Communication and cultural theory, Radical culture and politics,
Critical data studies and AI
All Publications
Book Chapters
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert (2024). Data-driven policing and whole-of-society anti-trafficking strategies. In Katrin Roots, Ann de Shalit, and Emily van der Meulen, eds. Trafficking Harms: Critical perspectives on human trafficking in Canada. Fernwood.
2024
Heynen, Robert (2019). The German Revolution and the Reshaping of the Radical Right. In J. Muldoon, ed., The German Revolution and Political Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3-32
2019
van der Meulen, Emily and Robert Heynen (2019). Unpacking State Surveillance: Histories, Theories, and Global Contexts. In R. Heynen and E. van der Meulen, eds., Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 3-30.
2019
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2016). ‘Gendered Visions: Reimagining Surveillance Studies,’ in van der Meulen and Heynen, eds., Expanding the Gaze: Gender and the Politics of Surveillance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2016
Books
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen, eds. (2019). Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2019
Journal Articles
Publication
Year
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2022). Anti-Trafficking Saviours: Celebrity, Slavery, and Branded Activism. Crime, Media, Culture 18(2): 301-323
2022
Heynen, Robert (2020). Biometric Aesthetics: Towards a Critical Theory of the Biometric Body. Public: Art, Culture, Ideas 60 (special issue on ‘Biometrics: Mediating Bodies’): 108-125.
2020
Heynen, Robert (2018). ‘Cultures of Confinement: Health, Illness, and Madness in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Magic Mountain.’ Modernism/Modernity 25(4): 683-708.
2018
Heynen, Robert (2016). ‘From Science to Fashion: Photography and the Production of a Surrogate Colony in Weimar Germany,’ History of Photography. 40(2).
2016
Durisin, Elya and Robert Heynen (2016). ‘Producing the “Trafficked Woman”: Canadian Newspaper Reporting on Eastern European Exotic Dancers During the 1990s,’ Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice. 37(2).
2016
Wright, Jordana, Robert Heynen, and Emily van der Meulen (2015). ‘“It depends on who you are, what you are”: ‘Community Safety’ and Sex Workers’ Experience with Surveillance,’ Surveillance & Society 13(2), pp. 265-282.
2015
De Shalit, Ann, Robert Heynen, and Emily van der Meulen (2014). ‘Human Trafficking and Media Myths: Federal Funding, Communication Strategies, and Canadian Anti-Trafficking Programs,’ Canadian Journal of Communication 39(3), pp. 385-412.
2014
Heynen, Robert (2012). ‘Socialism from the Right? Aesthetics, Politics and the Counter-Revolution in Weimar Germany,’ New Formations 75, pp. 82-98.
2012
Heynen, Robert (2000). ‘Making Soviet Nations,’ Socialist Studies Bulletin 60, pp. 5-26.
2000
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | GS/CMCT6335 3.0 | M | Selected Topics in Politics and Policy | SEMR |
| Winter 2025 | AP/CMDS4740 3.0 | M | Surveillance, media, and society | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CMDS1000 6.0 | A | Introduction to Communication & Media | LECT |
