Maxine Kamari Clarke

M. KAMARI CLARKE, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, received funding in October 2017 to aid research on ‘New Technologies, Social Media and The Politics of New Evidence.’ Today the militarization of various sub-Saharan African and Central and Latin American states has produced some of the most violent deaths since World War II. In response, citizens and non-governmental organizations are becoming involved in the management of violence through use of various satellite technologies to procure evidence. Such mobilizations are changing the terrain of governance in post-independent states. These new digital technologies may be creating a ‘human rights technology revolution’ but how are they transforming socio-legal worlds? This research project proposes to advance scholarly understandings of technology and the body as they relate to international law and justice in the fields of legal anthropology and interdisciplinary studies of law and social sciences. It reflects the recognition that contemporary technology is transforming the micro-workings of institutions and the knowledge foundations of judicial decision-making. As international justice mechanisms continue to evolve in the new millennium, lawyers, diplomats, politicians, civil society members and families are becoming increasingly engaged in finding solutions to regional problems. The imbrication of lawmakers, technology developers, scientists and civil society may be leading to disjunctures in what constitutes appropriate evidence and how best to procure and represent it for varied purposes.