Identification as translation: The art of choosing the right spokespersons at the securitized border

Actor Network Theory ◽

Security Studies ◽

Black Boxes ◽

Sociology Of Translation ◽

Translational Approach ◽

Border Crossers ◽

The Right

This article pursues a translational approach to the securitization of migration. It argues that sociotechnical processes of identification at the border can be conceived of as translations into legible identities of individuals who are unknown to authorities. The article contributes to the materiality debate on securitization across Critical Security Studies (CSS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS) by answering the call to conduct empirical explorations of security, and by revisiting the potential of the early sociology of translation (i.e. actor-network theory) to account for the identification of border crossers. Data collection was conducted at four identification facilities in the Hellenic Republic. Three sets of implications for the CSS-STS debate on the materiality of securitization are discussed. First, a translational approach can replace a representational understanding of identity with a performative apprehension of identification. Second, adopting a translational approach leads to acknowledge that the identification encounter is mediated by multiple, heterogeneous actors. It thus helps to open technological black boxes and reveal the key role of material qualities, affordances and limitations of artefacts. Third, a translational approach to the securitization of migration can help advance the field of ‘alterity processing’ by appreciating the de facto re-arrangements of institutional orders elicited by techno-political alignments with global security regimes.

The field of border control in Mauritania

Security Dialogue ◽

10.1177/0967010614525001 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 226-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Philippe M. Frowd

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Security Studies ◽

Border Control ◽

The European Union ◽

Islamic Republic ◽

Sahel Region ◽

And Training

Recent work on borders has tended to overlook border control actors, practices and rationalities in West Africa. States in this region are considered origin and transit countries for irregular migration, and the Sahel region that they straddle is widely seen as an emerging haven of terrorist activity. This article discusses one response to these migration and terrorism threats by the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: a programmme to build new border posts with help from global partners that include the European Union and the International Organization for Migration. The article builds on Bourdieusian approaches in critical security studies, but draws on concepts from actor-network theory to account for the heterogeneity of border control actors and the mobility of different knowledges about how to control borders. Drawing on ethnographic research in Mauritania, the article discusses four ‘actants’ of border security: the border posts, the landscape, the biometric entry–exit system and training practices. Throughout, the article highlights field dynamics of competition, cooperation and pedagogy, also emphasizing the role of non-human agency. The article concludes with a reflection on the link between border control and statebuilding, suggesting that this fusion is a broader paradigm of security provision in the global South.

Discursive Contextures of Science: Euro/West-Centrism and Science and Technology Studies

Engaging Science Technology and Society ◽

10.17351/ests2016.71 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 193 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Amit Prasad

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Embryonic Stem ◽

Modern Science ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Technology Studies ◽

Knowledge And Practice

Science and Technology Studies (STS) by the very act of showing the multiplicity, contingency, and context-dependence of scientific knowledge and practice, provincialized modern science. Postcolonial interventions within STS have pursued this goal even further. Nevertheless, Euro/West-centrism continues to inflect not only scientific practices and lay imaginaries, but also sociological and historical analyses of sciences. In this article, drawing on my own training within STS – first under J.P.S. Uberoi, who was concerned with structuralist analysis of modernity and science, and thereafter under Andy Pickering, when we focused on material agency and temporal emergence and extensively engaged with Actor Network Theory - I emphasize the continuing role of Euro/West-centric discourses in defining the “self” and the “other” and in impacting epistemological and ontological interventions. More broadly, building on a concept of Michael Lynch’s, I call for excavation and analysis of discursive contextures of sciences. In the second section of the article, through a brief analysis of embryonic stem cell therapy in a clinic in Delhi, I show how with shifting transnational landscape of technoscience certain discursive contextures are being “deterritorialized” and left “stuttering.”

Ontologically dirty knots: The production of numbers after the Srebrenica genocide

Security Dialogue ◽

10.1177/0967010620902008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 358-376

Author(s):

Victor Toom

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Security Studies ◽

Methodological Innovation ◽

Mass Graves ◽

Actor Network ◽

Legal Proceedings ◽

Critical Security Studies

Approximately 8,000 boys and men were killed in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. The victims were disappeared, killed and buried in secret mass graves. In this article, I examine how forensic anthropologists, demographers and forensic geneticists produced technolegal knowledge about the number of victims in the wake of the genocide; how those numbers were validated in legal proceedings against those held responsible; and, finally, how some have tried to destabilize the numbers in attempts to deny that a genocide was committed. While numbers, and the larger category of knowledge, take centre stage in the discussion, I use Srebrenica’s aftermath to introduce the concept of ontologically dirty knots, which is an analytical and methodological innovation that enables us to produce scholarly accounts of events, such as the Srebrenica genocide, that are characterized partly by secrecy, partly by controversy and partly by materiality. It ties together meaning and materiality, signals a process that continues to evolve, and suggests that narratives about what happened are the results of entanglements, action and friction that can be undone. In these respects, the article addresses current discussions on actor-network theory within critical security studies.

The Critical Geopolitics of Danger in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

Environment and Planning D Society and Space ◽

10.1068/d56j ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 555-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Nick Megoran

Keyword(s):

Political Identity ◽

Security Studies ◽

Critical Geography ◽

Critical Geopolitics ◽

State Terror ◽

New States ◽

Material Conditions ◽

Discursive Constructions

Drawing on critical security studies and critical geopolitics, I examine how geopolitical discourses of danger circulate in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Whereas some work in this field risks reinscribing the discursive articulation of danger as an inevitable condition of political formation, in this paper I emphasise the need to disaggregate the concept of danger carefully to highlight its operation in specific contexts. I explore these processes across a range of discursive sites from official media to popular music, contrasting findings with material from focus groups composed of socially marginalised populations. I demonstrate the role of discursive constructions of danger or safety in the production and maintenance of the political identity of the new states, and how this is inseparable from material conditions of elite power struggle. I conclude by echoing Hewitt's call for a critical geography that confronts and challenges the domestic exercise of state terror.

Conceptualizing Power in Dynamics of Securitization

10.5771/9783845293547 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

21St Century ◽

Art History ◽

Focal Point ◽

Cultural Anthropology ◽

Point Of View ◽

Security Studies ◽

Historical Case ◽

Critical Security Studies

This volume addresses the ‘question of power’ in current constructivist securitisation studies. How can power relations that affect security and insecurity be analysed from both a transdisciplinary and historical point of view? The volume brings together contributions from history, art history, political science, sociology, cultural anthropology and law in order to determine the role of conceptions of power in securitisation studies, which has tended to be dealt with implicitly thus far. Using conceptual theoretical essays and historical case studies that cover the period from the 16th to the 21st century, this book portrays the dominant paradigms of critical security studies, which mostly stem from the field of international relations and see the state as a major focal point in securitisation, in a new light.

Hacking Humans? Social Engineering and the Construction of the “Deficient User” in Cybersecurity Discourses

Science Technology & Human Values ◽

10.1177/0162243921992844 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 016224392199284 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nina Klimburg-Witjes ◽

Alexander Wentland

Keyword(s):

Corporate Responsibility ◽

Social Engineering ◽

Security Studies ◽

Sensitive Information ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Roles And Responsibilities ◽

The Individual ◽

Do So

Today, social engineering techniques are the most common way of committing cybercrimes through the intrusion and infection of computer systems. Cybersecurity experts use the term “social engineering” to highlight the “human factor” in digitized systems, as social engineering attacks aim at manipulating people to reveal sensitive information. In this paper, we explore how discursive framings of individual versus collective security by cybersecurity experts redefine roles and responsibilities at the digitalized workplace. We will first show how the rhetorical figure of the deficient user is constructed vis-à-vis notions of (in)security in social engineering discourses. Second, we will investigate the normative tensions that these practices create. To do so, we link work in science and technology studies on the politics of deficit construction to recent work in critical security studies on securitization and resilience. Empirically, our analysis builds on a multi-sited conference ethnography during three cybersecurity conferences as well as an extensive document analysis. Our findings suggest a redistribution of institutional responsibility to the individual user through three distinct social engineering story lines—“the oblivious employee,” “speaking code and social,” and “fixing human flaws.” Finally, we propose to open up the discourse on social engineering and its inscribed politics of deficit construction and securitization and advocate for companies and policy makers to establish and foster a culture of collective cyber in/security and corporate responsibility.

An Introduction to ‘Peace, Conflicts and Security in the Anthropocene: Ruptures and Limits’

Revista de Estudios en Seguridad Internacional ◽

10.18847/1.13.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. i-vi

Author(s):

Ignasi Torrent

Keyword(s):

Scientific Progress ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Human Control ◽

Anthropogenic Processes ◽

Uncertain Future ◽

The One ◽

Object Oriented Ontology ◽

Analytical Tools

Throughout the last two decades, numerous disciplines across the natural and social sciences have witnessed the increasing influence of an emerging set of contemporary theoretical trends that delve into the entanglements between the human and its material milieu (see Haraway, 2016; Latour, 2005). Beyond rigid attributed labels, including new materialisms, Actor-Network theory, speculative realisms and object-oriented ontology, amongst others, the genealogy of these theoretical movements arguably traces back to the confluence of two mutually reinforcing processes. On the one hand, the current unprecedented techno-scientific progress in areas such as Earth System Sciences and Science and Technology Studies has led to compelling narratives on unsettling events, including the potential effects of global warming as well as the uncertain future implications of developments in fields as, for instance, Artificial Intelligence. As a result of these challenges and speculations, the hypothetical finitude of the human being on the planet, far from abstract apocalyptic discourses, has become a strikingly perceptible experience. In other words, the stories about the distinctive, superior and masterful character of the human on Earth increasingly seem to fade, and its future seems unquestionably inextricable from broader beyond-the-human phenomena (see Tsing, 2015). The present age in which the human has compromised its own existence, or at least its position of dominance, to anthropogenic processes that surpass the sphere of human control has been defined by many scholars as the Anthropocene (see Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000). On the other hand, the tenets of this growing theoretical rubric claim the exhaustion and incapacity of the post-positivist paradigm, arguably the dominant register within critical theory over the last forty years, as unable to provide analytical tools that enhance the comprehensive understanding of the repositioning of the human in the Anthropocene era (see Bryant, Srnicek & Harman, 2011). To be precise, the limits of textual, discursive and semiotic methodological techniques are exposed as insufficient to capture and examine how Anthropocenic processes of transformation are reconfiguring the role of the human on the planet, let alone the relations with its environment.

Science, technology, security: Towards critical collaboration

Social Studies of Science ◽

10.1177/0306312720953515 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 030631272095351 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sam Weiss Evans ◽

Matthias Leese ◽

Dagmar Rychnovská

Keyword(s):

Communities Of Practice ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Security Studies ◽

Science Technology ◽

Security Communities ◽

Technical Collaboration

Science and technology play a central role in the contemporary governance of security, both as tools for the production of security and as objects of security concern. Scholars are increasingly seeking to not only critically reflect on the interplays between science, technology and security, but also engage with the practices of security communities that shape and are shaped by science and technology. To further help this growth of interest in security topics within science and technology studies (STS), we explore possible modes of socio-technical collaboration with security communities of practice. Bringing together literatures from STS and critical security studies, we identify several key challenges to critical social engagement of STS scholars in security-related issues. We then demonstrate how these challenges played out over the course of three case studies from our own experience in engaging security communities of practice. We use these vignettes to show that there is a rich vein of developments in both theory and practice that STS scholars can pursue by attending to the interplay of science, technology and security.

Doing and mediating critique: An invitation to practice companionship

Security Dialogue ◽

10.1177/0967010618810925 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 3-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Jonathan Luke Austin ◽

Rocco Bellanova ◽

Mareile Kaufmann

Keyword(s):

Political Engagement ◽

Feedback Loops ◽

Security Studies ◽

Everyday Practice ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Research Designs ◽

The Everyday ◽

Support Research

What does it mean to study security from a critical perspective? This question continues to haunt critical security studies. Conversations about normative stances, political engagement, and the role of critique are mainstays of the discipline. This article argues that these conversations tend to revolve around a too disembodied image of research, where the everyday practice of researchers is sidelined. But researchers do do research: they work materially, socially, and cognitively. They mediate between various feedback loops or fields of critique. In doing so, they actively build and exercise critique. Recognizing that fact, this article resists growing suggestions to abandon critique by, first, returning to the practice of critique through the notion of companionship. This permits us to reinvigorate our attention to the objects, persons, and phenomena through which critique gains inspiration and purpose, and that literally accompany our relationship to critique. Second, we explore what happens when our companions disagree, when critique faces controversies and (a) symmetries. Here, we support research designs of tracing credibility and establishing symmetries in order to move away from critique as denouncing positions we disagree with. Third, we discuss the relation between companionship, critique, reflexivity, and style. Here, the rhetorical practices of critical inquiry are laid out, and possibilities for its articulation in different and less silencing voices are proposed.

Shifting modes of governing municipal waste – A sociology of translation approach

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1177/0308518x18763609 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. 922-938 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gustavo Guzman ◽

Mariana Mayumi P De Souza

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Multiple Stakeholders ◽

Complex Dynamic ◽

Sociology Of Translation ◽

Implementation Studies ◽

Human Networks

In this study, we investigate the shifting of modes of governing municipal waste, from disposal (waste-to-landfill) to waste as a resource (sustainable recycling). To this end, we frame this study combining the modes of governing approach developed by Bulkeley, Watson and Hudson with Bruno Latour’s sociology of translation approach (or Actor-Network Theory). Within this double framework, we investigate practices that emerge from the attempts made by multiple stakeholders to shift modes of governing waste. This study contributes to the modes of governing waste in particular and, to environmental policy implementation studies in general. We posit that shifting governing modes involves (i) the construction of human–non-human networks that support the stabilization of a particular governing mode; (ii) consideration of the role of non-humans, their agency and materiality and; (iii) the acknowledgement that counter-networks and unintended consequences are likely to emerge. When we add to this view the role of politics, a more complex, dynamic and rich picture of the phenomenon surfaces.