Aktuelle Projekte

Digitalisierung und die indischen Verwaltung

Ursula Rao’s work on the digitization of Indian welfare programmes raises questions of embodiment. How can a living organism be transformed into a quasi-fixed document-like thing that the government then uses to manage citizens and organize welfare programmes? What new identities emerge when people struggle to become machine readable and thus recognized as citizens with rights? The project is situated in India and follows the application of fingerprinting in multiple field sites, taking note of the development ambitions of the government and the struggles of poor people to be seen and recognized by the government. Officers, intermediaries, and citizens quickly learn that currently available biometric technology is extremely error-prone and creates a plethora of biometric misfits. In order to function, the biometrically organized administration must deal with such exceptions. Sometimes these are granted generously; other times, the unbiometrifiability of a large number of people is silently welcomed because it helps reduce costs. The project explores the situational use of technology as well as its flaws, and draws conclusions about the consequences of the application of biometric filters for remaking subject positions. 

Drittmittelforschung

02/2020 - 12/2023 
Digital governance and the respatialization of the Indian state 
Projekt A5 im Sonderforschungsbereich 1199 "Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition"   
Kontakt: Ursula Rao  

01/2020 - 12/2022
Infrastructure and the re-making of Asia through adopting, orchestrating and cooperating
Projekt im Rahmen der Shaping Asia Network │ DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 
Kontakt: Ursula Rao und Arne Harms  

01/2020 - 12/2022
Life, living and livelihood in Satellite Cities: New Urban forms in India
Projektförderung durch Australian Research Council
Kontakt: Secondary Investigator Ursula Rao │Primary Investigator: Tanya Jakimow