Doctoral Dissertation Research: Humanitarian Infrastructures and Networks of Protection

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

In unstable or violent environments, the ability to assess threats and respond quickly is crucial to security provisioning. However, this can be challenging in environments with poor communication infrastructure. The research supported by this award investigates a case of adapting an old communication system for contemporary use in such situations. The researcher will examine who defines insecurity and how, who is responsible for providing security, and how history and technology shape these processes. Findings from this research will support policy makers and other stakeholders who are responsible for responding to violence and other kinds of instability. Research results also will provide theoretical understanding of the dynamic social effects and potentials of technologies. The research will be conducted by George Washington University anthropology doctoral student Scott Ross, with the supervision of Dr. Sarah E. Wagner. The researcher has chosen northeastern Congo as a site to investigate this problem because local and international actors there have expanded an old radio network to create a new Early Warning Network to connect communities who have no other communication infrastructure. The fact that this is the only communication infrastructure in the research site will make it easier to isolate the effects of the communication system than would be the case in a situation, such as the United States, where multiple systems are present. The overarching research questions are: (1) Does using an old technology reinforce certain conceptions of insecurity and discount others? (2) Does localizing a security apparatus reconfigure how people understand their relationship to authority? (3) How do the limits and history of the technology itself affect its contemporary use? The researcher will collect data using a mixture of ethnographic and archival research methods, including participant observation, interviews, network analysis, and historical documentation. The researcher will travel to different sites along the network, listen to radio communications, interview operators, and trace how information travels across the network. In order to assure that research outcomes are communicated to those who can put them into practice, results from the research will be shared through public media outletsas well as in professional publications and conferences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.