Week 3-brief reflection on the intensive & an initial project idea
Reflection on the intensive
I did enjoy the 2-day intensive courses in week 2 (though the flu annoyed me to fully participate in the discussion). It was the first time I attended a discussion-oriented course, and it was an interesting and wonderful experience to have a discussion with people both online and onsite. I learned many new concepts and heard many great interpretations from others. It is much more effective to have a better understanding of these course contents than diving into readings without focus and communication. The discussion of policing and surveillance inspired my project idea. I decide to continue this topic in the final essay and write the Covid surveillance in China as a preliminary rough draft for my final project (maybe the perspective will be totally different from my idea a few months later).
Initial idea
Yes. I have determined my initial project idea on the inequality caused by Covid 19 surveillance through health code in China. Health code mandates citizens’ consent for personal data, but its ethical and legal boundaries are unclear. It forms a centralising power for dictatorship. And it also cultivates new citizenship by categorising people’s health conditions. So, it must result in inequality, and this is an interesting and urgent topic to talk about. However, in my initial idea, the inequality issue hasn’t been specified yet. I think this is the main problem I need to address and solve in the future. It might be the privacy intrusion brought by the over-collection and misuse of biodata, or marginalising the elderly or the disabled in the digitalised society, or modifying citizens’ recognition and behaviours through a new discourse of digital civilisation.
I read several papers related to the topic of health code in China. Those I found interesting all mention the power relation between the surveilled citizens, platforms, and the government, either from a lawful perspective or a political angle. And they all attribute the concept of biopolitics. Therefore, The birth of biopolitics by Foucault should be the very essential reading at this stage.
There is so much I should do.
-I haven’t found appropriate datasets (probably it’s difficult and not necessary?).
-My thinking is so broad and casual, so I need to narrow it down and give up some points.
-I think I should compare public health surveillance methods from different countries, so I need more materials about health code-like things outside China.
For further partnership, I tried to look for a potential partner and went to the partner activity on Wednesday. Probably I haven’t had a clear and logical idea in mind, or the partners in attendance are mostly local-based, so I didn’t find some connection. And I think when my proposal is satisfying enough, I can try to contact the authors of these papers for advice or further collaboration. But I cannot figure out how, and let alone this is the thing I should consider in the next next step. Besides, I also need a friend in China to help me access the health code since it cannot be used outside China.
That’s all I have at this moment. I’m sure I have plenty of time to review this idea. The very recent thing is to address this idea in the final essay, combining it with the concepts I learned in the intensive courses. After then, I think my idea will be more mature and deep.
Hope you have a nice week 4!
Wow, Will. So ambitious. I am particularly interested in the concept of new citizenship or maybe even “class” based on covid status. And is it a temporal factor? Meaning you are temporarily “low class” and return to normal when the virus is gone? It reminds me so much of the aids virus and public reaction during the 1980’s.
I think you were an absolute trouper during the intensive days, albeit your cold! And glad to hear the topic inspired you for your essay and final project – really looking forward to hearing more about it! I also find the concept of biopolitics intriguing and definitely relevant to topics of healthcare and state control of citizens’ personal data.
Thanks for your comment, Janel! I’m nor sure if it can be called “class” because the infected will be sent to particular hospitals for treatments, and I haven’t noticed clear division. Probably another reason is that I haven’t talked with an infected person in China. But covid indicates bad citizenship. In the public discourse, an infected case is related to a person who didn’t behave well and follow the government’s instruction, even a trouble maker for the whole city (as long as a few cases appear, the travel of the whole city will be restricted). And the discrimination remains after the recovery. There are many posts and news about the recovered people who cannot find jobs because of infection history. But many were banned.
Hi Will, this is a really great start at thinking through a potential project topic! It is certainly very important, relevant, and closely connected to the themes of MSc Data, Inequality & Society.
A few brief suggestions:
1. Try to use your Exclusion & Inequality essay to explore this topic and what concepts you might employ to understand the ‘faultlines’ of inequalities that are most significant in this case. As you write above, it may be related to privacy intrusions of citizens (or certain kinds of citizens in particular), or marginalising elderly or disabled people, or other faultlines. Try to identify what else those may be, and which of our ‘Toolbox’ of concepts might help you to make sense of them.
2. In the next couple of months, think about what your sources of data might be to get some empirical material to analyse for your Futures Project. This can be quantitive datasets: Are there any organisations trying to track government actions against citizens in the name of zero covid? But this can also be qualitative data: For example, you could focus on one ‘faultline’ of inequality like disabled people or bankrupt people given a red code or something else, and find ways to interview them about their experiences and the effects of this policy on their lives. Another option could be something like a discourse analysis of how the government communicates the benefits of this policy and its actions, compared with how critical media or citizens’ blogs interpret these policies and actions. This is all to say: there are many ways you can ‘enter’ this topic! I would highly recommend making a list of all the potential angles for entry and then seeing what’s most feasible and interesting. This will also tell you which methods you will need to use, and which skills you will need to develop to undertake those methods.
3. Once you’ve done #2, it might become easier to identify potential partners. These could be activist organisations, citizen blogging sites, or media organisations (depending on which angle on this topic you take), or alternatively no partner at all! There is no requirement to work with a partner; it is completely fine to collect your own data according to your own project interests.
4. Once you’ve done #1, you’ll already have the beginnings of a literature review for this topic, just from the readings of Exclusion and Inequality. Along with Foucault and other people who write about biopolitics (e.g. Nikolas Rose), you could ‘snowball’ outward to build your literature review by looking at those bibliographies for other readings relevant to you. You could also do a keyword search for biopolitics, surveillance, power, covid 10, etc. Here’s a quick one: https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jasac/article/view/243719
Hi Will,
Your topic sounds so interesting! I am very impressed by the clarity of your plan/project so early on in the term. I find it interesting how China decided to operate as a post-covid society. I find that many places have also brought in changes since covid (company policies, healthcare funding, etc.), but the scale and intensity of the changes in China makes it feel as though the government is creating a separate institution to deal with covid and those who are infected. I find biopolitical topics very cool, and I think that the power structures in China paired with biopolitics will account for interesting findings and research.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how your project progresses!