Kathryn Henne

Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Natasha Tusikov, Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Natasha Tusikov and Kathryn Henne, 285-306. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Our goal in this book was to spur an inter- and multi-disciplinary dialogue on the rising importance of knowledge in the global political economy and the role of knowledge in contemporary governance. Each of the chapters critically reflects on the control over knowledge as an important form of power, interactions between state and non-state actors, and knowledge regulation in its many forms. Knowledge regulation entails considering how and why knowledge is legitimised and by whom, the interests served, and the specific power structures underlying these arrangements. To understand the dynamics of a world dominated by the knowledge structure, we need to focus on the rules and norms that shape the legitimation, creation, use, and dissemination of knowledge, as well as those who are shaping these rules, which includes the state and non-state actors, and the interests being served.

Keywords: Knowledge

Contributor(s): Natasha Tusikov, Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Disinformation and Resistance in the Surveillance of Indigenous Protesters

Kathryn Henne, Jenna Harb. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 187-212. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

The U.S. and Canadian governments have long engaged in the surveillance of Indigenous peoples. Such practices have garnered public attention in light of recent events. This chapter reflects on two examples: protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that crossed over the lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the United States and the release of details regarding Project SITKA—a Canadian Royal Mounted Police “dataveillance” operation identifying and tracking Indigenous activists. It examines them to illuminate the strategic use of information, particularly disinformation and misinformation, by government actors, media, private security personnel, and protesters. In particular, the analysis highlights how settler colonialism informs the asymmetrical power dynamics at work, illustrating connections between Project SITKA and the Standing Rock protests.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Kathryn Henne, Jenna Harb, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Introduction

Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 1-20. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

While the control of knowledge is becoming the dominant means by which economic, political, and social control is exerted globally, the mechanisms through which this is happening—including intellectual property rights, state and commercial surveillance, digitisation and datafication, and a nearly ubiquitous internet mediating human interactions—are often examined separately instead of as part of a larger phenomenon of knowledge governance. This edited volume brings experts in these areas from across the social sciences to explore these areas as forms of knowledge governance, by adopting the understudied (at least from a knowledge-governance perspective) work of the late International Political Economy scholar Susan Strange, notably her concept of a knowledge structure. In this chapter, we present an introduction to and critique of Strange’s theory of the knowledge structure and offer an overview of this volume’s chapters.

Contributor(s): Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Theory, Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Work, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Surveillance in the Name of Governance: Aadhaar as a Fix for Leaking Systems in India

Kathryn Henne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 223-246. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Many jurisdictions are employing biometric technologies to collect data about and verify the identities of social assistance recipients, with fraud prevention and cost savings serving as common justifications for doing so. This chapter explores the practices of building the infrastructure to monitor welfare beneficiaries, many of whom are vulnerable or marginalised populations. To do so, the chapter examines the Aadhaar system in India, which has issued over one billion unique identification numbers since being launched in 2010. The analysis illustrates a one-way expectation of knowledge and transparency (i.e., for citizens to disclose in order to access services), drawing attention to how nationalist agendas and forms of inequality inform who is subject to the state’s terms and conditions. In doing so, it considers how these forms of surveillance evince broader shifts in which state and non-state actors rely on knowledge to regulate subjects.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Kathryn Henne, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019