CLSC | Socio-Legal Studies Workshop: Pariroo Rattan - To Be Seen or Not to Be Seen: Negotiating Digital Visibility, Privacy and Personhood in the Streets of Delhi

Pariroo Rattan, Postdoctoral Fellow in Science in Human Culture at Northwestern University, will present "To Be Seen or Not to Be Seen: Negotiating Digital Visibility, Privacy and Personhood in the Streets of Delhi".

Abstract

Legal and policy discourse on techno-governance for the marginalized often coalesce around two positions: that of privacy as either a universal right or an elite indulgence. Drawing on ethnography with migrant street vendors in Delhi, I reject this framing to argue that it is crucial to attend to the cultural and political dimensions of how visibility acquires meaning and mediates claims to citizenship. Digital visibility simultaneously promises street vendors improved ability to lay claims on the state and exposure to the state’s punitive, scrutinizing dimensions. This necessitates a shift in analytics from privacy and surveillance to recognition and inspection. While existing theory has unsettled linear accounts of surveillance as expanding state power, insufficient attention is paid to how digital visibility is differentially experienced and negotiated by citizens. I find that vendors
operationalize digital technologies through dual personhood: performing an autonomous-legal self for the state while enacting relational selves in the marketplace. This analysis has implications for law and society scholarship as it grapples with creating appropriate legal protections for citizens amidst technological expansion.

 

Hosted by the UCI Center in Law, Society and Culture, the Socio-Legal Studies Workshop is an interdisciplinary seminar that brings together scholars both within and beyond the UCI community working at the intersections of law, social sciences, humanities, and the arts to discuss works-in-progress. The Workshop also features a series of book talks in which authors discuss their recently published work.

To request reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact centers@law.uci.edu.

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