Nothing to lose but their (block)chains Biometrics, techno-imaginaries, and transformations in Rohingya lives

【Author】 Prasse-Freeman, Elliott

【Source】AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST

【影响因子】1.906

【Abstract】Can stateless persons become legal-economic subjects without state ratification? Can they appropriate technologies not designed for them to create both new subjectivities and new forms of community? A Malaysia-based nonprofit social enterprise, composed of stateless Rohingya, has been attempting to circumvent state rejection by inscribing aspects of Rohingya (in)dividuals-biometric data, genealogy information, and records of community participation-on a digital blockchain ledger. The enterprise seeks to mobilize blockchain's affordances to iteratively construct Rohingya subjects, re-presenting them to new institutions (banks rather than humanitarians) as quasi-legal persons, producing entities ultimately certified for "financial inclusion"-bank accounts and loans-thereby hoping to generate post-Westphalian spaces and subjectivities. Yet, amid a revanchist nationalist resurgence in Malaysia-as with bourgeoning right-wing populism globally-the spaces in which blockchained subjects might maneuver have narrowed, compelling our attention to the "nonsovereignty" in this project's version of "self-sovereignty." [blockchain, biometrics, science and technology studies, (non)sovereignty, statelessness, Malaysia, Rohingya]

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【发表时间】

【收录时间】2022-10-05

【文献类型】观点阐述

【主题类别】

区块链应用-实体经济-其他