Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network facilitates the first hybrid Majority World track at the biennial Surveillance Studies Conference 2024 at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. We cover a wide range of topics in surveillance studies through 30 accepted papers and two panels in 12 sessions. The track discusses socio-political aspects of surveillance, including digital oppression, authoritarian control through surveillance technologies, resistance against surveillance, digital discrimination, politics of infrastructural surveillance (borders, IDs, internet shutdowns, etc.), surveillance embedded in public service and algorithmic bias, epidemic surveillance, gender-based surveillance, and humanitarian surveillance. The track follows these issues in a wide spectrum of surveillance technologies, platforms, communication channels, public service algorithms, infrastructure, facial recognition technologies, security assemblages, etc. The case studies are from many countries of the Majority World including South America, Africa, the Middle East, and South and East Asia. Please note that these are papers specifically submitted to the Majority World track, and there are papers from/about Majority World in other tracks.
Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network hosts the plenary session on Surveillance in Africa & African Surveillance Studies. The panellists include:
- Admire Mare, Head of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Johannesburg, introducing his edited volume on Digital Surveillance in Southern Africa: Policies, Politics and Practices
- Juliet Nanfuka, writer and researcher from the ICT policy think tank Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).
- Tony Roberts, Research Fellow in the Digital & Technology research team at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, introducing African Digital Rights Network’s report on Mapping the Supply of Surveillance Technologies to Africa
- ‘Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director Paradigm Initiative, introducing their reports on Internet freedom and digital rights
Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network also holds a Majority World reception after the plenary session on Surveillance in Africa & African Surveillance Studies.
These events are supported by Open Technology Fund.
