Research article / Soapbox Journal of Cultural Analysis
The Sociogeny of Religious Discrimination in India’s Surveillance State
This paper explores the relationship between religion and surveillance through Simone Browne’s theoretical framework of ‘racialising surveillance’. It investigates the use of a digital biometric device called Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) during mass protests in India against the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act which has been accused of discriminating against the country’s Muslim minority. This invasive surveillance technology is understood as a social product of India’s larger socio-political context characterised by a Hindu vs. Muslim narrative, helping to maintain and reify religious inequality. The analysis shows how surveillance scholarship developed in a US-context can be expanded beyond the Western hemisphere into spaces that demand critical cultural investigations.
Soapbox is part of University of Amsterdam’s cultural analysis department
