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Btihaj Ajana

King's College London, Department of Digital Humanities, Faculty Member

King's College London, Centre for Cultural, Media and Creative Industries Research, Faculty Member

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Btihaj is an international scholar in the fields of digital culture and social analysis. Her academic research is interdisciplinary in nature and spans many areas of expertise including the critical study of new media technologies and identity systems, digital health and self-tracking technologies, museum developments and curatorial processes, immigration and citizenship governance, and the socio-political and ethical dynamics of surveillance culture.
Geographically, Btihaj’s work has covered the UK, UAE, Denmark and the rest of the EU. She is also a Marie Curie Fellow (2015-2017) at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies where she is researching the phenomenon of the Quantified Self and health tracking culture. Find out more about this project on www.metriclife.net.
Btihaj has a BA (Hons) with First Class in Media Studies and Computing Science from London South Bank University, an MA with Distinction in Digital Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a PhD in Sociology from London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to joining King’s College London in 2010, she taught sociology at the LSE and worked with media organisations specialising in factual programming about the Middle East.

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University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

B. Harun Küçük

University of Pennsylvania

Ariadna Estévez

UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Jorge Castillo-Sepúlveda

Universidad de Santiago de Chile

University of Chichester

Armağan Karahanoğlu

University of Twente

Kansas State University

Wageningen University

UCSC

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Papers by Btihaj Ajana

Border Control/Immigration

Springer eBooks, 2020

“It Could Have Been Us”: media frames and the coverage of Ukrainian, Afghan and Syrian refugee crises

SN social sciences, Jul 11, 2024

Film Documentary: "Quantified Life" (2017)

Curating Public Art 2.0: The Case of Autopoiseis

This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Buil... more This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Building on the case study of Autopoiesis, a digital art project focusing on the curation and online exhibition of artworks received from members of the public in the United Arab Emirates, the article explores the ways and extent to which a Web platform can enable participatory culture and novel forms of audience engagement. While major cultural institutions in the region tend to promote brand-like activities and prestige cultural projects, Autopoiesis seeks to offer a more inclusive platform to facilitate autonomous creative self-expressions and enable greater public participation in culture. By providing a critical reflection on the "material" contexts of this digital project, the article also demonstrates the related tensions between the virtual and the physical, and the wider "local" realities enframing this

Introduction: Identity, Security and Democracy

Open Data: A shared responsibility

Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is... more Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding and legitimation while placing my analysis within a wider critical debate, which includes discussions on the link between museums and identity, the legitimizing role of architecture, and the various contentious concerns and controversies surrounding the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. I conclude that the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries have an excellent opportunity for innovation in the cultural field if they are willing to critically and ethically found their cultural developments on an ethos of inclusivity, openness, experimentation, non-exploitation and curatorial courage.

Recombinant Identities: Biometrics and Narrative Bioethics

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

The Immunopolitics of Covid-19 Technologies

Parallax

The Biopolitics of Biometrics

Theory, Culture & Society, 2014

Homo Carded: Exception and Identity Systems

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

The issue of ‘function creep’ is one of the most recurring concerns in the debates surrounding th... more The issue of ‘function creep’ is one of the most recurring concerns in the debates surrounding the implications of biometric technology and ID cards systems. Underlying these concerns is the fear that the use of biometrics may overflow beyond its originally intended purposes, especially where the concept of ‘interoperability’1 and technologies of ‘networked’ databases are involved (van der Ploeg, 2005b: 13). To be sure, this concern over the function creep of biometric technology is all too often articulated in relation to the increase in surveillance practices, and more specifically, in relation to the issue of privacy and the problem of data misuse. Thus the debate over function creep continues to be largely confined to what technology can and cannot do, and what possible uses and scenarios may ensue. As the following statements indicate: ‘Function creep’ is an important concern, i.e. that technology and processes introduced for one purpose will be extended to other purposes which were not discussed or agreed upon at the time of their implementation. (European Commission, 2005a: 16) Just as function creep implies that biometrics will gradually (and innocently) grow to be used by zealous, well-meaning bureaucrats in numerous, creative ways in multiple fora, function creep will also enable the Government to reduce further over time the citizenry’s reasonable expectations of their privacy. (Woodward, 1998: 12)

Identity Securitisation and Biometric Citizenship

In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical... more In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical implications of biometric technology and identity systems. Our discussion has been primarily focused on the domain of asylum and on the ways in which biometric technology functions as a means of managing the identities of those who are held within such a domain of power and control, affecting their embodied existence, as a result. In this chapter, we shall shift the attention towards the figure of the ‘citizen’ in order to explore other aspects of the interplay between biometrics and identity management and how this interplay relates to the ideal and practice of citizenship, by looking at practices that are less exceptional and more routine than those of asylum. As the title of this chapter suggests, security is a key concept that underpins the triad of biometrics, identity and citizenship. And like many other concepts, security too has undergone many transformations in its meaning, use and function. As such, it is worth starting off the discussion by considering some of these transformations. This will also help us pave the way for analysing and understanding what is involved in the process of securitising identity through biometric technology as well as the impact of such a process on the concept and practice of citizenship.

Asylum, Identity Management and Biometric Control

Journal of Refugee Studies, Nov 6, 2013

ABSTRACT The article addresses a particular aspect of the relationship between asylum issues and ... more ABSTRACT The article addresses a particular aspect of the relationship between asylum issues and information and communication technologies (ICTs), namely the deployment and &#39;function creep&#39; of biometrics within the field of asylum management. Current debates on this issue have been largely restricted to a technologically determinist approach that reduces the focus to problems of data misuse and privacy, precluding other pertinent ethical and political concerns. In response, the article engages with Giorgio Agamben&#39;s elaborations on the concepts of biopolitics and exception as an alternative way of analysing the use of biometric technology in the governance of forced migrants. It begins with a critical overview of Agamben&#39;s conceptualization of biopolitics and the state of exception. It then considers the Eurodac database and the UK&#39;s asylum Application Registration Cards as examples to demonstrate how current policies of immigration control and border management are implicated in the logic of exception. It argues that illiberal practices, such as biometric profiling and fingerprinting of asylum seekers and their incarceration in detention centres, are being enforced upon certain groups in ways that render their exclusion from the official juridico-political structure as an &#39;inclusive exclusion&#39;. Importantly, the function creep of biometrics is not to be understood as the turning of exception into the rule in a somewhat homogenous way, but more as a polysemic process, which involves different forms of discipline and control that are irreducible to one singular paradigm.

Metrics of the Self: A Users’ Perspective

Emerald Publishing Limited eBooks, Dec 6, 2021

Personal metrics: Users’ experiences and perceptions of self-tracking practices and data

Social Science Information, Nov 18, 2020

Self-tracking is becoming a prominent and ubiquitous feature in contemporary practices of health ... more Self-tracking is becoming a prominent and ubiquitous feature in contemporary practices of health and wellness management. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a rapid development in digital tracking devices, apps and platforms, together with the emergence of health movements such as the Quantified Self. As the world is becoming increasingly ruled by metrics and data, we are becoming ever more reliant on technologies of tracking and measurement to manage and evaluate various spheres of our lives including work, leisure, performance, and health. In this article, I begin by briefly outlining some of the key theoretical approaches that have been informing the scholarly debates on the rise of self-tracking. I then move on to discuss at length the findings of an international survey study I conducted with users of self-tracking technologies to discuss the ways in which they perceive and experience these practices, and the various rationales behind their adoption of self-tracking in the first place. The article also addresses participants' attitudes towards issues of privacy and data sharing and protection. These attitudes seem to be dominated by a lack of concern regarding the use and sharing of self-tracking data with third parties. Some of the overarching sentiments vis-à-vis these issues can be roughly categorized according to feelings of 'trust' towards companies and how they handle data, a sense of 'resignation' in the face of what is perceived as an all-encompassing and ubiquitous data use, feelings of 'selfinsignificance' which translates into the belief that one's data is of no value to others, and the familiar expression of 'the innocent have nothing to hide'. Overall, this article highlights the benefits and risks of self-tracking practices as experienced and articulated by the participants, while providing a critical reflection on the rise of personal metrics and the culture of measurement and quantification.

Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi

museum and society, Jul 1, 2015

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is... more Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding and legitimation while placing my analysis within a wider critical debate, which includes discussions on the link between museums and identity, the legitimizing role of architecture, and the various contentious concerns and controversies surrounding the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. I conclude that the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries have an excellent opportunity for innovation in the cultural field if they are willing to critically and ethically found their cultural developments on an ethos of inclusivity, openness, experimentation, non-exploitation and curatorial courage.

Communal Self-Tracking: Data Philanthropy, Solidarity and Privacy

Springer eBooks, Oct 4, 2017

The ‘self’ is often an overemphasised part of self-tracking culture. However, self-tracking is no... more The ‘self’ is often an overemphasised part of self-tracking culture. However, self-tracking is not restricted to individualised forms, but is increasingly becoming a socialised phenomenon, whereby users are incited to share with others information about their physical activities and biodata via social media and dedicated platforms. This chapter builds on previous sections, looking at the ‘communal’ aspect of self-tracking while questioning the ‘solidaristic’ dimension of data sharing. It considers this communal aspect as a form of digital biosociality and links the discussion to debates on ‘data philanthropy’. In doing so, this chapter explores some of the ideological functions of data donation and its philanthropic discourses, highlighting the emerging tensions between data ownership, data sharing and privacy issues in the context of self-tracking practices and data.

Disembodiment and cyberspace: A phenomenological approach

The Socjournal, 2005

... demonstrate, even within the virtuality of cyberspace, the construction of identity, subjecti... more

Rethinking Community and the Political through Being-with

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

Putting the notion of citizenship into question has led us to raise the question of community its... more Putting the notion of citizenship into question has led us to raise the question of community itself, for the two remain inextricably intertwined. And like citizenship, community is also a highly complex and aporetic concept. For some, it is a source of hope and an antidote to increasing individual isolation. For others, it is a term deserving of suspicion and one that carries with it the stains of a violent past. But despite, or perhaps because of, the divergent reactions that the notion of community invokes, it continues to be an important and contentious theme in contemporary political debates and governmental strategies. As discussed in the previous chapter, the reinforcement of ‘common’ values and habits, the strengthening of social cohesion and the integration of migrants and newcomers into a presumed way of life are all recurrent aspirations that pervade current proposals of citizenship and immigration reform as well as some of the discourses promoting recent identity systems. The notion of community is often inserted into these debates at the same time when ‘individualising’ ethos and practices are being encouraged within the very same context. These articulations are expressive of a particular way of understanding community, one that is based upon the desire to construct community as unity and conformity; that is, a community founded on consensus where assimilation is often presented, implicitly if not explicitly, as the cost of membership, while, at the same time, maintaining a culture of autonomisation required for market-based purposes. For many obvious and non-obvious reasons, this vision of community is not only unrealistic but also threatening.

Personal Science and the Quantified Self Guru

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Border Control/Immigration

Springer eBooks, 2020

“It Could Have Been Us”: media frames and the coverage of Ukrainian, Afghan and Syrian refugee crises

SN social sciences, Jul 11, 2024

Film Documentary: "Quantified Life" (2017)

Curating Public Art 2.0: The Case of Autopoiseis

This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Buil... more This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Building on the case study of Autopoiesis, a digital art project focusing on the curation and online exhibition of artworks received from members of the public in the United Arab Emirates, the article explores the ways and extent to which a Web platform can enable participatory culture and novel forms of audience engagement. While major cultural institutions in the region tend to promote brand-like activities and prestige cultural projects, Autopoiesis seeks to offer a more inclusive platform to facilitate autonomous creative self-expressions and enable greater public participation in culture. By providing a critical reflection on the "material" contexts of this digital project, the article also demonstrates the related tensions between the virtual and the physical, and the wider "local" realities enframing this

Introduction: Identity, Security and Democracy

Open Data: A shared responsibility

Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is... more Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding and legitimation while placing my analysis within a wider critical debate, which includes discussions on the link between museums and identity, the legitimizing role of architecture, and the various contentious concerns and controversies surrounding the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. I conclude that the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries have an excellent opportunity for innovation in the cultural field if they are willing to critically and ethically found their cultural developments on an ethos of inclusivity, openness, experimentation, non-exploitation and curatorial courage.

Recombinant Identities: Biometrics and Narrative Bioethics

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

The Immunopolitics of Covid-19 Technologies

Parallax

The Biopolitics of Biometrics

Theory, Culture & Society, 2014

Homo Carded: Exception and Identity Systems

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

The issue of ‘function creep’ is one of the most recurring concerns in the debates surrounding th... more The issue of ‘function creep’ is one of the most recurring concerns in the debates surrounding the implications of biometric technology and ID cards systems. Underlying these concerns is the fear that the use of biometrics may overflow beyond its originally intended purposes, especially where the concept of ‘interoperability’1 and technologies of ‘networked’ databases are involved (van der Ploeg, 2005b: 13). To be sure, this concern over the function creep of biometric technology is all too often articulated in relation to the increase in surveillance practices, and more specifically, in relation to the issue of privacy and the problem of data misuse. Thus the debate over function creep continues to be largely confined to what technology can and cannot do, and what possible uses and scenarios may ensue. As the following statements indicate: ‘Function creep’ is an important concern, i.e. that technology and processes introduced for one purpose will be extended to other purposes which were not discussed or agreed upon at the time of their implementation. (European Commission, 2005a: 16) Just as function creep implies that biometrics will gradually (and innocently) grow to be used by zealous, well-meaning bureaucrats in numerous, creative ways in multiple fora, function creep will also enable the Government to reduce further over time the citizenry’s reasonable expectations of their privacy. (Woodward, 1998: 12)

Identity Securitisation and Biometric Citizenship

In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical... more In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical implications of biometric technology and identity systems. Our discussion has been primarily focused on the domain of asylum and on the ways in which biometric technology functions as a means of managing the identities of those who are held within such a domain of power and control, affecting their embodied existence, as a result. In this chapter, we shall shift the attention towards the figure of the ‘citizen’ in order to explore other aspects of the interplay between biometrics and identity management and how this interplay relates to the ideal and practice of citizenship, by looking at practices that are less exceptional and more routine than those of asylum. As the title of this chapter suggests, security is a key concept that underpins the triad of biometrics, identity and citizenship. And like many other concepts, security too has undergone many transformations in its meaning, use and function. As such, it is worth starting off the discussion by considering some of these transformations. This will also help us pave the way for analysing and understanding what is involved in the process of securitising identity through biometric technology as well as the impact of such a process on the concept and practice of citizenship.

Asylum, Identity Management and Biometric Control

Journal of Refugee Studies, Nov 6, 2013

ABSTRACT The article addresses a particular aspect of the relationship between asylum issues and ... more ABSTRACT The article addresses a particular aspect of the relationship between asylum issues and information and communication technologies (ICTs), namely the deployment and &#39;function creep&#39; of biometrics within the field of asylum management. Current debates on this issue have been largely restricted to a technologically determinist approach that reduces the focus to problems of data misuse and privacy, precluding other pertinent ethical and political concerns. In response, the article engages with Giorgio Agamben&#39;s elaborations on the concepts of biopolitics and exception as an alternative way of analysing the use of biometric technology in the governance of forced migrants. It begins with a critical overview of Agamben&#39;s conceptualization of biopolitics and the state of exception. It then considers the Eurodac database and the UK&#39;s asylum Application Registration Cards as examples to demonstrate how current policies of immigration control and border management are implicated in the logic of exception. It argues that illiberal practices, such as biometric profiling and fingerprinting of asylum seekers and their incarceration in detention centres, are being enforced upon certain groups in ways that render their exclusion from the official juridico-political structure as an &#39;inclusive exclusion&#39;. Importantly, the function creep of biometrics is not to be understood as the turning of exception into the rule in a somewhat homogenous way, but more as a polysemic process, which involves different forms of discipline and control that are irreducible to one singular paradigm.

Metrics of the Self: A Users’ Perspective

Emerald Publishing Limited eBooks, Dec 6, 2021

Personal metrics: Users’ experiences and perceptions of self-tracking practices and data

Social Science Information, Nov 18, 2020

Self-tracking is becoming a prominent and ubiquitous feature in contemporary practices of health ... more Self-tracking is becoming a prominent and ubiquitous feature in contemporary practices of health and wellness management. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a rapid development in digital tracking devices, apps and platforms, together with the emergence of health movements such as the Quantified Self. As the world is becoming increasingly ruled by metrics and data, we are becoming ever more reliant on technologies of tracking and measurement to manage and evaluate various spheres of our lives including work, leisure, performance, and health. In this article, I begin by briefly outlining some of the key theoretical approaches that have been informing the scholarly debates on the rise of self-tracking. I then move on to discuss at length the findings of an international survey study I conducted with users of self-tracking technologies to discuss the ways in which they perceive and experience these practices, and the various rationales behind their adoption of self-tracking in the first place. The article also addresses participants' attitudes towards issues of privacy and data sharing and protection. These attitudes seem to be dominated by a lack of concern regarding the use and sharing of self-tracking data with third parties. Some of the overarching sentiments vis-à-vis these issues can be roughly categorized according to feelings of 'trust' towards companies and how they handle data, a sense of 'resignation' in the face of what is perceived as an all-encompassing and ubiquitous data use, feelings of 'selfinsignificance' which translates into the belief that one's data is of no value to others, and the familiar expression of 'the innocent have nothing to hide'. Overall, this article highlights the benefits and risks of self-tracking practices as experienced and articulated by the participants, while providing a critical reflection on the rise of personal metrics and the culture of measurement and quantification.

Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi

museum and society, Jul 1, 2015

Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is... more Museums and cultural developments are on the rise in the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates is home to some of the most ambitious and extravagant museum projects in the world. In this article, I consider the example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, exploring some of its underlying dynamics and context. I focus mainly on the relationship between branding and legitimation while placing my analysis within a wider critical debate, which includes discussions on the link between museums and identity, the legitimizing role of architecture, and the various contentious concerns and controversies surrounding the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. I conclude that the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries have an excellent opportunity for innovation in the cultural field if they are willing to critically and ethically found their cultural developments on an ethos of inclusivity, openness, experimentation, non-exploitation and curatorial courage.

Communal Self-Tracking: Data Philanthropy, Solidarity and Privacy

Springer eBooks, Oct 4, 2017

The ‘self’ is often an overemphasised part of self-tracking culture. However, self-tracking is no... more The ‘self’ is often an overemphasised part of self-tracking culture. However, self-tracking is not restricted to individualised forms, but is increasingly becoming a socialised phenomenon, whereby users are incited to share with others information about their physical activities and biodata via social media and dedicated platforms. This chapter builds on previous sections, looking at the ‘communal’ aspect of self-tracking while questioning the ‘solidaristic’ dimension of data sharing. It considers this communal aspect as a form of digital biosociality and links the discussion to debates on ‘data philanthropy’. In doing so, this chapter explores some of the ideological functions of data donation and its philanthropic discourses, highlighting the emerging tensions between data ownership, data sharing and privacy issues in the context of self-tracking practices and data.

Disembodiment and cyberspace: A phenomenological approach

The Socjournal, 2005

... demonstrate, even within the virtuality of cyberspace, the construction of identity, subjecti... more

Rethinking Community and the Political through Being-with

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

Putting the notion of citizenship into question has led us to raise the question of community its... more Putting the notion of citizenship into question has led us to raise the question of community itself, for the two remain inextricably intertwined. And like citizenship, community is also a highly complex and aporetic concept. For some, it is a source of hope and an antidote to increasing individual isolation. For others, it is a term deserving of suspicion and one that carries with it the stains of a violent past. But despite, or perhaps because of, the divergent reactions that the notion of community invokes, it continues to be an important and contentious theme in contemporary political debates and governmental strategies. As discussed in the previous chapter, the reinforcement of ‘common’ values and habits, the strengthening of social cohesion and the integration of migrants and newcomers into a presumed way of life are all recurrent aspirations that pervade current proposals of citizenship and immigration reform as well as some of the discourses promoting recent identity systems. The notion of community is often inserted into these debates at the same time when ‘individualising’ ethos and practices are being encouraged within the very same context. These articulations are expressive of a particular way of understanding community, one that is based upon the desire to construct community as unity and conformity; that is, a community founded on consensus where assimilation is often presented, implicitly if not explicitly, as the cost of membership, while, at the same time, maintaining a culture of autonomisation required for market-based purposes. For many obvious and non-obvious reasons, this vision of community is not only unrealistic but also threatening.

Personal Science and the Quantified Self Guru

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

The Quantification of Bodies in Health: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

by Joaquim Braga and Btihaj Ajana

The use of digital tracking technologies is a widespread phenomenon. Millions of people around th... more The use of digital tracking technologies is a widespread phenomenon. Millions of people around the world now track, document, and analyse their physical activities, vital functions, and daily habits through wearable devices, apps, and platforms. The aim is to assess and improve health, productivity, and wellbeing. The current Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of tracking technologies. At the heart of this trend lies the quantification of the body, deemed as a key element in medical practice and personal self-care. While often couched in positive promotional terms that highlight its value to users' mental, emotional, and physical health, it is also raising a host of issues and concerns that are at once ontological, ethical, political, social, legal, economic, and aesthetic. The Quantification of Bodies in Health aims to deepen understanding of this growing phenomenon and of the role of self-tracking practices in everyday life. It brings together established and emerging authors working at the intersection of philosophy, sociology, history, psychology, and digital culture, while bridging between philosophical and empirical approaches. A timely topic of extreme relevance and significance, The Quantification of Bodies in Health constitutes a useful and unique companion for anyone interested in the study of body quantification and self-tracking practices.

Self-tracking: Empirical and philosophical investigations

Self-tracking: Empirical and philosophical investigations, 2018

Metric Culture: Ontologies of self-tracking practices

Metric Culture: Ontologies of self-tracking practices, 2018

Identity, Security and Democracy: The Wider Social and Ethical Implications of Automated Systems for Human Identification-Volume 49 NATO Science for …

Governing through Biometrics: The Biopolitics of Identity

Open data: a shared responsibility

Interview with Norwegian monthly newspaper Ny Tid on the Quantified Self: "Selvmonitorering: Kjenn deg selv gjennom tallene dine"

by Steffen Moestrup and Btihaj Ajana

Link to interview article: https://www.nytid.no/selvmonitorering-kjenn-deg-selv-gjennom-tallene-... more

The Biopolitics of Biometrics

Bio-political Tattooing

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy, 2018

Quantified Bodies and the Biopolitics of Health

Exhibition catalogue "Pakui Hardware. Underbelly", Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, 2019

Digital Biopolitics, Humanitarianism and the Datafication of Refugees

Refugee Imaginaries: Research Across the Humanities, 2020

Biometric datafication in Governmental and Personal spheres

Big Data: A New Medium?, 2020

Big Borders: Smart Control through Big Data

Encyclopedia of Big Data, 2020

Homo Carded: Exception and Identity Systems

Governing through Biometrics, 2013

Biometrics: The Remediation of Measure

Governing through Biometrics, 2013

Identity Securitisation and Biometric Citizenship

Governing through Biometrics, 2013

Rethinking Community and the Political through Being-with

Governing through Biometrics, 2013

Surveillance Culture

Documentary film: "Quantified Life"

Directed by Btihaj Ajana, this portrait documentary film focuses on the self-tracking practices a... more Directed by Btihaj Ajana, this portrait documentary film focuses on the self-tracking practices and habits of a dedicated self-quantifier from Denmark, Thomas Blomseth Christiansen. Thomas is no ordinary self-tracker. For the last eight years, he has been meticulously tracking and documenting various aspects of his life and health, ultimately ridding himself of his severe allergies and improving his overall health, as a result. The film captures some of Thomas’ experience while also providing useful reflections on the wider implications and ethical dimensions of self-tracking and quantification.

Watch the film here: https://youtu.be/qI75kMqctik

‘Héroes Anónomos’ [Anonymous Heroes] (2015): a series of 4 short documentary films

Co-director of a series of short films with OTOXO Productions. The films center around four Barce... more

Review of Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents’, Joseph Reagle, MIT Press

'Review of The Curatorial: A Philosophy of Curating’, Jean-Paul Martinon (ed), Bloomsbury Academic, 2013, In : Curatorial Studies. 3, 2-3, 2014

Ajana, B. (2009) ‘Review of Reinventing Data Protection?’ Serge Gutwirth et al., Springer 2009. Journal of Identity in the Information Society, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 355-358

Immunitarianism: defence and sacrifice in the politics of Covid-19

Immunitarianism: defence and sacrifice in the politics of Covid-19, 2020

As witnessed over the recent months, immunity emerged as one of most highly debated topics in the... more As witnessed over the recent months, immunity emerged as one of most highly debated topics in the current Covid-19 pandemic. Countries around the globe have been debating whether herd immunity or lockdown is the best response, as the race continues for developing a vaccine against coronavirus and as the economic costs of implementing strict containment measures are weighed against public health costs. What became evident all the more is that immunity is precisely what bridges between biological life and political life in the current climate, be it in terms of the contentious notion of herd immunity, the geopolitical struggle for vaccines, or the possible emergence of “Covid-elite”, i.e. holders of so-called “Immunity passports”. Immunity, as such, is certainly not only a matter of science and biology alone, but is inherently political in the way that pandemics themselves are often highly politicised. Drawing on the work of Roberto Esposito and other literature from the field of biopolitics, this paper provides a critical examination of the concept of immunity in light of the recent events, highlighting the intersections between the politics of defence and the politics of sacrifice which animate governments’ immunitary responses and public attitudes towards the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper ends with a discussion on the forms of solidarity that have been emerging during the current pandemic and their potential for an affirmative form of biopolitics.