De African Digital Rights Network (ADRN) heeft een nieuw rapport gepubliceerd waarin de toevoer en verspreiding van digitale surveillance technologie in Afrika in kaart is gebracht. Onderzoeker Anand Sheombar van het lectoraat Procesinnovatie & Informatiesystemen is betrokken bij het ADRN-collectief en heeft samen met de Engelse journalist Sebastian Klovig Skelton, door middel van desk research de aanvoerlijnen vanuit Westerse en Noordelijke landen geanalyseerd. De bevindingen zijn te lezen in dit Supply-side report hoofdstuk van het rapport. APA-bronvermelding: Klovig Skelton, S., & Sheombar, A. (2023). Mapping the supply of surveillance technologies to Africa Supply-side report. In T. Roberts (Ed.), Mapping the Supply of Surveillance Technologies to Africa: Case Studies from Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Malawi, and Zambia (pp. 136-167). Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
MULTIFILE
An installation based on the research for the last book in the Ebifananyi series. The book presents a largely visual social biography of the photograph Henry Morton Stanley made in 1875 of Ssekabaka Muteesa 1 of Buganda and his chiefs. The group portrait is one of the first photographs made in the territory currently known as Uganda. The social biography I made is partly based on historical sources and partly ‘written’ in the form of a chain of responses to and interpretations of those historical sources. These responses and interpretations were, as a result of my interest in the photograph, made in 2016 and 2017 by (mostly Ugandan) artists.This installation is what you could call a spatial assemblage. It includes prints, collages, projections and a book. All of these components show – or are directly related to – the pictures made by explorers John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant during and around their visit to Muteesa, thirteen years before Stanley made the photograph. Considering Speke’s and Grant’s drawings gives an insight into the appreciation for pictures on the side of the Baganda and the use of these same visual materials by the visitors. It helps to understand the context in which Stanley brought out a camera to make a ‘drawing with light’ that Muteesa and his chiefs may never have had a chance to see themselves.The title “My Guide Through Africa” is taken from words jotted down by James Augustus Grant on the cover of an instruction book on how to make watercolours. He carried the book with him on his journey through ‘Africa’. As this book was a ‘Guide’, so are the drawings made by him and his colleague. Now that we know them, we cannot avoid for our gaze to be moulded by journal notes and drawings made in the 19th century.Recent responses to the historical pictures were made by Violet Nantume, Herman van Hoogdalem, Stella Atal and me (in collaboration with R. Canon Griffin). Additional thoughts about components of the installation can be found in this blogpost and of course in “Ebifananyi 8, Ekifananyi Kya Muteesa – The King has been pictured (by many)” (for sale online in a set with three or all seven other books in the series here).The installation is part of the group show ‘Dwell Act Transform’ on artistic research in the North (of the Netherlands). The historical materials presented are part of the collections of the Royal Geographical Society (Speke), National Library of Scotland (Grant) and The Ugandan Society (Stanley’s and Speke’s books).
LINK
This paper describes the work done to track the supply chains of sur-veillance technologies from the global North to African governments for illegal surveillance of their citizens. We conducted desk research to analyse the supply side of surveillance technology exported to African countries. Our preliminary findings show nine key exporting states-actors for surveillance technologies to Africa. These are China; European Union agencies, and member states France, Germany, Italy; Israel, United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States of Amer-ica. Regarding the specific surveillance technologies being transferred, each export-ing state tends to have a focus area, both in geographic area and within the five surveillance technology categories covered by this study. The paper identified six motives for state surveillance, including the suppliers' perspective. These are: 1) surveillance as legitimacy for state security, 2) surveillance for political gain, 3) surveillance as diplomacy, 4) surveillance as a tool for development, 5) Surveil-lance as neocolonialism, and 6) surveillance as business opportunity. Further re-search is needed to deepen the analysis of surveillance technologies exports to the African continent and the human rights violations.
MULTIFILE
Green Bubbles is an EU-funded project dedicated to recreational SCUBA diving, an activity engaging millions of people worldwide. Green Bubbles will maximise the benefits associated with diving while minimising its negative impacts, thus achieving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the system. Funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement, Green Bubbles is run by a consortium of nine entities, including universities, research organisations, educational organisations and SMEs from Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Turkey, South Africa and the United States. Breda University main responsibilities are the development of a communication and media plan as well as a Virtual Reality diving experience to make people aware of how to dive in a more sustainable way.Partners: Polytechnic University of Marche, Studio Associato Gaia. Communication, UBICA, Innovasub, DAN Europe, North-West University, College of Exploration., DAN South
