Upcoming talk: April 8th, 1-2pm, jointly organized by Sociology and Legal Studies.

[J Whitson]

Hi Everyone,
I'd like to promote an upcoming online talk: April 8th, 1-2pm, jointly
organized by Sociology and Legal Studies and the CrySP Speaker Series. All
are welcome.

https://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/speakers/20220408-Oduro-Marfo

Surveillance for Development? Implications of Surveillance-oriented Citizen
Identification Systems in Global South countries

Smith Oduro-Marfo, University of Victoria

April 8, 2022 1:00pm, in Zoom <https://uwaterloo.zoom.us/j/98903420174>

Abstract

Increasingly, citizen identification systems that are digital, biometric
and interoperable are being introduced in Global South countries in the
name of development. The assumption or fact that the Global South state
must navigate a hardly legible society is being offered as a reason for the
challenges with socio-economic development in the Global South. Thus
practically, the relative underperformance of the Global South state in
leading national development has become an excuse for introducing
surveillance-oriented identification systems. My research in Ghana, for
instance, shows a multi-actor consensus on the need for such
surveillance-oriented systems in order for the state to enhance its
capacity in resolving citizenship contestations, allocating taxes,
collecting taxes, distributing social welfare, making economic policy,
fighting crime and overall, leading the quest for socio-economic
development. In this talk, I explore the implications of justifying
surveillance-oriented systems in the name of development. I propose my
Surveillance for Development (S4D) frame as a starting point in
appreciating the trend and its meanings. I also connect my analysis to the
‘care or control’ debate in Surveillance Studies.

Bio

Smith Oduro-Marfo holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of
Victoria. He researches surveillance, privacy, technology policy and
inclusiveness in the Global South. Smith’s doctoral dissertation supervised
by Professors Colin Bennet, Marlea Clarke and Wisdom Tettey analyzed
multi-actor debates for and against citizen identification systems in
Ghana. In the study, he focused on three key national projects in Ghana:
the national biometric identity card, national digital property addressing
system and the SIM card registration exercise. Smith holds the CIPP/C
certification and has been an IAAP Westin Scholar. He has also been a
fellow with the Big Data Surveillance Network, the IDRC and the Centre for
Global Studies at the University of Victoria. Beyond his academic
interests, Smith is invested in promoting inclusiveness and equity. He was
the lead author for the recently-published Black in British Columbia needs
assessment report, and action plan. The report assessed the implementation
of the IDPAD in BC and offered 98 recommendations to the provincial
government. He is a consultant and open to collaboration.


*Jennifer R. Whitson PhD *| Associate Professor | Department of Sociology
and Legal Studies | Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business
(cross-appointment) | University of Waterloo | website
<https://jenniferwhitson.com/> | twitter <https://twitter.com/jen_whitson>
| indie interfaces <https://www.indieinterfaces.com/>| she / her, but they
/ their is also fine | Waterloo campus office: PAS 2025 | Stratford office:
DMS 3008
*The University of Waterloo (including the Waterloo, Kitchener, and
Cambridge campuses) is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land that was
promised to the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations of the Grand River, and is
within the territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee
peoples. Stratford Campus is on the traditional territory of the
Anishnabek, Haudenosaunee and Attawandaron peoples. *
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