Btihaj Ajana

King's College London | KCL · Department of Digital Humanities

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes and seek refuge in other countries, resulting in one of Europe’s largest refugee crises in decades. Many countries were quick to mobilise and provide the needed assistance to Ukrainians refugees. In contrast to the usual responses to asylum seekers comin...

In response to the global outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, many countries around the world have rushed to develop and implement various mechanisms, including vaccination passports, to contain the spread of the virus and manage its significant impact on heath and society. COVID-19 passports have been promoted as a way of speeding society's return...

Aim: The aim of the paper is to enhance understanding of how members of the public make sense of the Covid-19 vaccines and the factors influencing their attitudes towards such artefacts of pandemic governance. Methods: The paper draws on 23 online in-depth interviews with members of the UK public and builds on relevant literature to examine part...

The use of digital tracking technologies is a widespread phenomenon. Millions of people around the world now track, document, and analyse their physical activities, vital functions, and daily habits through wearable devices, apps, and platforms. The aim is to assess and improve health, productivity, and wellbeing. The current Covid-19 pandemic has...

As witnessed over the last year, immunity emerged as one of most highly debated topics in the current Covid-19 pandemic. Countries around the globe have been debating whether herd immunity or lockdown is the best response, as the race continues for the development and rollout of effective vaccines against coronavirus and as the economic costs of im...

Self-tracking is becoming a prominent and ubiquitous feature in contemporary practices of health and wellness management. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a rapid development in digital tracking devices, apps and platforms, together with the emergence of health movements such as the Quantified Self. As the world is becoming increasingly r...

As witnessed over the recent months, immunity emerged as one of most highly debated topics in the current Covid-19 pandemic. Countries around the globe have been debating whether herd immunity or lockdown is the best response, as the race continues for developing a vaccine against coronavirus and as the economic costs of implementing strict contain...

Background While studies have examined the impact of digital communication technology on healthcare, there is little exploration of how new models of digital care change the roles and identities of the health professional and patient. The purpose of the current study is to generate multidisciplinary reflections and questions around the use of digit...

The ‘self’ is often an overemphasised part of self-tracking culture. However, self-tracking is not restricted to individualised forms, but is increasingly becoming a socialised phenomenon, whereby users are incited to share with others information about their physical activities and biodata via social media and dedicated platforms. This chapter bui...

This book provides an empirical and philosophical investigation of self-tracking practices. In recent years, there has been an explosion of apps and devices that enable the data capturing and monitoring of everyday activities, behaviours and habits. Encouraged by movements such as the Quantified Self, a growing number of people are embracing this c...

Recent years have witnessed an intensive growth of systems of measurement and an increasing integration of data processes into various spheres of everyday life. From smartphone apps that measure our activity and sleep, to digital devices that monitor our health and performance at the workplace, the culture of measurement is currently on the rise. E...

This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Building on the case study of Autopoiesis, a digital art project focusing on the curation and online exhibition of artworks received from members of the public in the United Arab Emirates, the article explores the ways and extent to which a Web platform can...

Link to article: https://www.nytid.no/selvmonitorering-kjenn-deg-selv-gjennom-tallene-dine/

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding...

Purpose – Investments in the technologies of borders and their securitisation continue to be a focal point for many governments across the globe. This paper is concerned with a particular example of such technologies, namely, “Big Data” analytics. In the past two years, the technology of Big Data has gained a remarkable popularity within a variety...

The article addresses a particular aspect of the relationship between asylum issues and information and communication technologies (ICTs), namely the deployment and 'function creep' of biometrics within the field of asylum management. Current debates on this issue have been largely restricted to a technologically determinist approach that reduces t...

Managing identity through biometric technology has become a routine and ubiquitous practice in recent years. This book interrogates what is at stake in the merging of the body and technology for surveillance and securitization purposes drawing on a number of critical theories and philosophies.

This book is about the biopolitics of biometrics. Its first chapter will, therefore, address these two components as a way of laying the ground for the remaining chapters and explicating the key theoretical framework that underlies this project. The first section of the chapter is primarily concerned with defining ‘biometrics’. Instead of limiting...

Historically, and whether at the micro (individual) or macro (social, national, cultural, etc.) level, the notion of identity has often been bound up with that of conflict or crisis. Contemporary articulations and practices of identity are no exception. They are increasingly being marked by what Anthony Giddens (1991) refers to as ‘ontological inse...

The issue of ‘function creep’ is one of the most recurring concerns in the debates surrounding the implications of biometric technology and ID cards systems. Underlying these concerns is the fear that the use of biometrics may overflow beyond its originally intended purposes, especially where the concept of ‘interoperability’1 and technologies of ‘...

In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical implications of biometric technology and identity systems. Our discussion has been primarily focused on the domain of asylum and on the ways in which biometric technology functions as a means of managing the identities of those who are held within such...

This book has looked at the example of biometric identity systems and other related developments in order to explore and elucidate some of the transformations pertaining to the field of governing. In doing so, it has drawn attention to the specific practices, techniques, processes, rationalities and mechanisms by which central issues, such as ident...

Putting the notion of citizenship into question has led us to raise the question of community itself, for the two remain inextricably intertwined. And like citizenship, community is also a highly complex and aporetic concept. For some, it is a source of hope and an antidote to increasing individual isolation. For others, it is a term deserving of s...

The article considers the issue of citizenship in light of the recent developments in biometric identification techniques. It aims to answer the question as to what kind of citizenship is the ‘biometric citizenship’. Drawing on several empirical examples including the Iris Recognition Immigration System scheme, identity cards and current citizenshi...

The article considers the issue of citizenship in light of the recent developments in biometric identification techniques. It aims to answer the question as to what kind of citizenship is the ‘biometric citizenship’. Drawing on several empirical examples including the Iris Recognition Immigration System scheme, identity cards and current citizenshi...

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in finding stronger means of securitising identity against the various risks presented by the mobile globalised world. Biometric technology has featured quite prominently on the policy and security agenda of many countries. It is being promoted as the solution du jour for protecting and managing th...

Set against the backdrop of the controversial UK Identity Card scheme, SayanKent’s recent play Another Paradise (2009) conjures up a future dystopian image of a biometrically-controlled Britain in which every citizen is reliant on biometric technology, ID cards and national databases not only as a means for functioning ineveryday life, but more so...

Jean‐Luc Nancy's The Inoperative Community is now one of the most celebrated interventions in rethinking community beyond the traditional substantialist discourses of unity and essence. It challengingly counters contemporary articulations of both communitarianism and liberalism in order to rescue the concept of community from forms of immanentism (...

The article aims to provide an extended reflection on Michael Howard’s (former Leader of the British Conservative Party) 200516. Howard , M. 2005. Howard: Firm but fair immigration controls http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=119004&speeches=1 View all references pre‐election speech on immigration, in order to expose th...

The aim of this paper is to examine the entangled relationship between the technology of cyberspace and the rhetoric of disembodiment by using Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach. I start with an overview of the Enlightenment’s epistemology regarding the body and precisely that of the Cartesian split, then go on to argue how the body still su...

The paper addresses the relationship between contemporary modes of surveillance and biopolitics in terms of border management. It is suggested that the shift from disciplinary society (panopticism) to control society (post- panopticism) is a problematic one in that the two modalities of power (discipline and control) are not mutually exclusive but...

The paper addresses the issue of ethics in relation to sociological praxis by drawing upon the work of Levinas, Derrida, Nancy and others with regard to the notions of responsibility and singularity. Seen in light of these concepts, it claims that any given sociological research or text can be considered as a form of 'opening', 'sharing' and 'touch...