In this thought-provoking episode of the Intersect UCPH, Nehar Mortuza sits down with Associate Professor Kristin Veel from the University of Copenhagen to look into the intersection of digital infrastructures and cultural imagination. Kristin shares insights from her 20 years of research, exploring how technologies impact our everyday lives, the hidden dynamics of datafication, and the ways intersectionality serves as a powerful methodology for uncovering societal invisibilities.
About our guest:
Kristin Veel is an Associate Professor in Modern Culture at the University of Copenhagen. Her research explores the intersections of digital infrastructures, cultural imagination, and societal invisibilities through an interdisciplinary lens.
Shownotes & Timestamps:
[00:01:22] – Kristin’s Research Focus Kristin explains her fascination with how digital infrastructures shape cultural imagination. She highlights her interest in technologies' invisibilities, uncertainties, and their representations in art, film, and literature.
[02:00] – An Interdisciplinary ApproachKristin reflects on her cultural studies background and the interdisciplinary methodologies she employs to understand the visible and invisible impacts of technology on everyday life.
[02:27] – Why Intersectionality, and Why Now?Kristin describes intersectionality as a method, not just a theory, that enables researchers to explore how social structures and identity markers intersect with technological impacts.
[03:29] – Challenges in Promoting IntersectionalityKristin discusses the challenges of applying intersectionality in her field and how it generates new questions and perspectives.
[03:38] – Case Study: Home Control ProjectKristin shares her work on the Home Control project, which examines the use of smart technologies in domestic violence and coercive control. She explains how technologies like smart locks, cameras, and thermostats are weaponized in abusive relationships.
[05:24] – Intersectionality in ActionKristin provides examples of how an intersectional approach—considering gender, race, and socioeconomic status—has led to more nuanced understandings of technological abuse and its effects on vulnerable populations.
[07:00] – Working with Survivors and InstitutionsKristin discusses the importance of collaborating with crisis shelters and police to better address tech-facilitated abuse and to ensure diverse experiences are accounted for in solutions.
[08:00] – Reflections on PrivilegeKristin emphasizes the importance of researchers understanding their own positions of privilege and being attuned to what privilege makes invisible in their work.
[08:37] – Take-Home MessageKristin encourages listeners to engage with societal invisibilities, be mindful of privilege, and seek spaces for interdisciplinary dialogue, such as the Intersect Research Hub.
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