Module SOCI3657: The Body as Data: Technology, Power and Human Rights

Department: Sociology

SOCI3657: The Body as Data: Technology, Power and Human Rights

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To apply theoretical resources from sociology and science and technology studies to the analysis of the production and use of bodily data in a variety of social contexts.
• To examine the co-production of biometric technology, governmentalities, and individual and collective identities and agencies.
• To demonstrate how social theory can critique and challenge the claims and uses of biometric data.
• To situate the social impact of biometric technology in national, international, transnational and postcolonial contexts.
• To understand and anticipate the human rights and social justice impacts of emerging biometric technologies.

Content

• Ethical, social and human rights issues associated with emerging biometric technologies, including DNA phenotyping, commercial genealogical services, facial recognition, behavioural biometrics, border control technologies etc;
• The development and use of biometric data in international and global contexts;
• The application of critical race studies to conceptualizing, critiquing and challenging biometrically-mediated claims to individual and collective identity;
• (Re)conceptualizing biometric technology and bodily data as a means of deconstructing Western scientific hegemonies;
• Citizen science and disaster victim identification as foci for decolonizing knowledge;
• Biometrics, citizen science and participatory action research in international contexts such as Central and South America;
• The role of biometric systems in co-producing citizenship and human rights/wrongs;
• The ethics of augmenting biometric technology in an era of big data and Artificial Intelligence.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will be able to demonstrate:
• The ability to relate insights from key social scientific fields (e.g. critical race studies, science and technology studies, postcolonial studies, biopolitics/governmentality, critical public understanding of science) to understanding the production and uses of bodily data;
• An understanding of the significance of biometric technology in wider social justice and human rights debates, e.g. decolonization, civil society movements etc.;
• Ability to critique and challenge Western scientific authority;
• Cutting-edge knowledge of the use and status of biometric data in a variety of potentially inter-related areas of national/international policy significance including national security, commerce, humanitarian relief, disaster victim identification, migration, citizenship and human rights;
• Critical awareness of the potential and opportunities for publics to engage with and challenge biometric technology;
• Knowledge and critical awareness of how biometric technology (re)constructs identities and societies in national, international and transnational contexts.

• By the end of the module students will be able to:
• Critically evaluate claims made about biometric technology and data;
• Challenge assumptions concerning biometric technology and data through the analytical lenses of critical race studies, decolonization and critical human rights studies;
• Formulate sociologically informed questions with specific reference to biometric technology and data;
• Draw upon critical social theories and human rights perspectives to challenge the ways in which individual bodies and collectives are reconstructed through the application of biometric systems;
• Apply human rights perspectives to legal, ethical and policy issues concerning the use of biometric systems against individuals and populations;
• Place the development of science and technology within the wider context of globalization, decolonization, international development, human rights and global inequalities.
• Critically assess forms of participatory action research and citizen science

• By the end of the module, students should demonstrate:
• Ability to gather appropriate information from a range of sources;
• Critical analysis of sources and evidence;
• IT skills relating to production of summative essays;
• ability to plan workload and manage time;
• ability to construct systematic and coherent written arguments.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• During periods of online teaching, for asynchronous lectures in particular, planned lecture hours may include activities that would normally have taken place within the lecture itself had it been taught face-to-face in a lecture room, and/or those necessary to adapt the teaching and learning materials effectively to online learning.
• Lectures: Weekly lectures will provide students with theoretical and substantive knowledge necessary to develop understanding of the module topics.
• Seminars: Fortnightly seminars provide an opportunity for seminar tutors to work with small groups, exploring in greater depth, and collectively, themes and issues arising from the lectures and associated reading.
• Formative work: this provides students with opportunities to enhance subject-specific knowledge, subject-specific skill and key skills. Feedback on the formative assignments enables students to critically reflect on the development of their knowledge and skill, and toward completing the summative essay.
• Summative Assessment: A summative essay enables students to demonstrate their achievement and understanding of specific topics in depth and to construct systematic discussions within word-limited constraints.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Essay outline and bibliography assignment.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University