Rob Heynen
Department of Communication & 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.
Degrees
PhD, Social & Political Thought, York UniversityMA, History, University of Alberta
BA, History and Political Science, McGill University
Research Interests
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen, eds. (2019). Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
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.
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
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2022). Anti-Trafficking Saviours: Celebrity, Slavery, and Branded Activism. Crime, Media, Culture 18(2): 301-323
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert (2016). ‘From Science to Fashion: Photography and the Production of a Surrogate Colony in Weimar Germany,’ History of Photography. 40(2).
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).
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert (2012). ‘Socialism from the Right? Aesthetics, Politics and the Counter-Revolution in Weimar Germany,’ New Formations 75, pp. 82-98.
Heynen, Robert (2000). ‘Making Soviet Nations,’ Socialist Studies Bulletin 60, pp. 5-26.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/CMDS3730 3.0 | A | An Introduction to the Documentary | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CMDS1000 6.0 | A | Introduction to Communication & Media | LECT |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Winter 2025 | GS/CMCT6335 3.0 | M | Selected Topics in Politics and Policy | SEMR |
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
All Publications
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.
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
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen, eds. (2019). Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Heynen, Robert and Emily van der Meulen (2022). Anti-Trafficking Saviours: Celebrity, Slavery, and Branded Activism. Crime, Media, Culture 18(2): 301-323
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert (2016). ‘From Science to Fashion: Photography and the Production of a Surrogate Colony in Weimar Germany,’ History of Photography. 40(2).
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).
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.
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.
Heynen, Robert (2012). ‘Socialism from the Right? Aesthetics, Politics and the Counter-Revolution in Weimar Germany,’ New Formations 75, pp. 82-98.
Heynen, Robert (2000). ‘Making Soviet Nations,’ Socialist Studies Bulletin 60, pp. 5-26.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/CMDS3730 3.0 | A | An Introduction to the Documentary | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/CMDS1000 6.0 | A | Introduction to Communication & Media | LECT |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Winter 2025 | GS/CMCT6335 3.0 | M | Selected Topics in Politics and Policy | SEMR |
