Paper Title: “The Living Dead”: Orphaning in Aadhaar-enabled Distribution of Welfare Pensions in RajasthanAuthors: Ranjit SinghJournal: PUBLIC Journal: Art Culture IdeasVolume: 30Issue: 60Pages: 92-104Year: 2020 Abstract: This paper follows the mutual shaping of the lives of citizens and their data records to illustrate how precarious forms of citizenship emerge in the use of biometrics-based data infrastructures for governance. It presents a case […]
Histories of Infrastructuring
Author: Ranjit SinghWorkshop: Fostering Historical Research in CSCW & HCI Venue: The 22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Date: 10 November 2019 Abstract: This paper outlines the evolution of my work to narrate the history of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based national identification infrastructure, in one of my dissertation chapters. I describe how and why this […]
Managing Aadhaar’s Scale
Paper Title: Give Me a Database and I Will Raise the Nation-StateAuthors: Ranjit SinghJournal: South Asia: Journal of South Asian StudiesVolume: 42Issue: 3Pages: 501-518 Year: 2019 Abstract: This paper draws on an ethnographic study of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based national identification infrastructure, to investigate how members of its design team conceptualised and understood their techno-bureaucratic enterprise of assigning unique numbers to Indian […]
Seams that Matter
Paper Title: Seams that Matter in Approaches to Study Processes of Marginalization Author: Ranjit Singh Workshop: Solidarity Across Borders Venue: The 21st ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), New York Date: 4 November 2018 Abstract: This paper outlines the trajectory of my ethnographic research on the design and use of India’s national biometrics-based identification project, […]
From Pipes to Platforms
Conference Presentation Title: From Pipes to Platforms: Designing a Country-Scale Project Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Coded citizenship. Biometrics, identity and de-socializing technologies in South Asia Venue: The 25th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), Paris Date: 25 July 2018 Abstract: This paper draws on ethnographic study of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based national identification project, to engage with the core design […]
Following Digital Directions
Chapter Title: Getting “There” from the Ever-changing “Here”: Following Digital Directions Authors: Ranjit Singh, Chris Hesselbein, Jessica Price, and Michael Lynch Edited Volume: digitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies Publisher: Princeton University Press Pages: 280-299 Year: 2019 Abstract: Many familiar debates in STS, philosophy, and communication and information studies revolve around the relationship between formal […]
Authentication Trails of Body as Evidence
Conference Presentation Title: Authentication trails of Body as evidence: What counts as a confirmation of what? Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Techno-Utopias of Identification: Comparing and Situating the Fantasy in Aadhaar Venue: 4th LASSnet International Conference in New Delhi, India Date: 10 December, 2016 Abstract: This paper traces body as evidence in the analysis of India’s biometrics-based identity project – Aadhaar. […]