Response to ‘The Aadhaar debate: Where are the sociologists?’

Abstract

At this historical juncture, when digital governance is fundamentally re-forming social relations, we need critical knowledge about the emerging texture of society. This text responds to Reetika Khera’s important intervention about the need for more timely studies of Aadhaar. Building on Angelia Chamuah’s and Lawrence Cohen’s comments, I argue for the need to ask broader questions about the changing character of the political as it emerges in the Aadhaar arena. Today, states respond to the world’s dizzying complexity by inventing new experimental solutions, many of which utilise digital technologies, and often rather than deliver solutions, create new pathways for learning through critical engagement. Aadhaar is a case in point. In their studies, scholars should remain attuned to the open-endedness of the Aadhaar infrastructure and understand its experimental ethos. This would generate knowledge about processes of iterative learning and lead to conclusions about the role of feedback-loops for the evolution of digital governance. From there one can conclude about systems of value, social hierarchy, or justice and fairness that organise the processes of adapting a new infrastructure to multiple social contexts.