Embodiment of Data

Digital Surveillance

This qualitative research presents a study of COVID-19 in India to illustrate how surveillance is increasing control over bodies of individuals, and how the dominant framework of data as a resource is facilitating this control. Disembodied constructions of data erase connections between data and people's bodies and make surveillance seem innocuous. As a departure from such a framework, this research adopts a feminist bodies-as-data approach to pinpoint the specific, embodied harms of surveillance. Starting from lived experiences of marginalised communities whose voices are often left out in debates on data protection, it shows that surveillance undermines not just data privacy, but more importantly, the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of individuals.

I carried out this research with the Internet Democracy Project, supported by the Data Governance Network and Omidyar Network.

Select work based on this project:

Radhakrishnan, Radhika. (2020). “I took Allah’s name and stepped out”: Bodies, Data and Embodied Experiences of Surveillance and Control during COVID-19 in India. Mumbai, Data Governance Network.
Radhakrishnan, Radhika. (2020). Protecting Bodies and Rights in Disease Surveillance during COVID-19 in India. Mumbai, Data Governance Network.
Zine: “Lived Experiences of Surveillance at the Margins during COVID-19 in India”, Internet Democracy Project, 2020.
Article: “How Covid-19 Helped Govt Control Your Data & You”, Article14, 3 March 2021
Article: “Embodied surveillance during Covid-19 in India: A feminist perspective”, ORF CyFy Edit, 8 Oct 2020.
Invited speaker: “Digital Rights and Inclusion After the Pandemic”, ORF CyFy, 2020
Invited speaker: “Access to Information during the COVID Crisis”, UNESCO, 2020
Invited speaker: “Surveillance during COVID-19 and Women at the Margins”, Prajnya Gender Talks, 2020

Datafication of Health

Through this ethnographic research, I argue that when health data is viewed as a disembodied resource, access to people’s health data becomes a form of power, giving those with such control the unparalleled power to influence the governance of people’s bodies and lives. Recognising the interconnections between our bodies and data from within a feminist framework, this research analyses the datafication of health in India through emerging developments proposed under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) ecosystem, and its implications for the bodies and rights of people. This work seeks to understand how datafication contributes to the disembodiment of health data in policy frameworks; the consequences of disembodiment for how people’s health data is understood to have value and who can benefit from that value; and how acknowledging the relationship between health data and bodies within policy frameworks can empower people to safeguard their right to equitable healthcare.

I carried out this research with the Internet Democracy Project, supported by the Data Governance Network and Omidyar Network.

Select work based on this research:

Radhakrishnan, Radhika. (2021 forthcoming). Health Data as Wealth: Understanding Patient Rights in India within a Digital Ecosystem through a Feminist Approach. Mumbai, Data Governance Network.
Radhakrishnan, Radhika (2021 forthcoming). Safeguarding Patient Rights under the National Digital Health Mission through A Feminist Framework of Embodiment. NLU-D Journal of Legal Studies.