TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing risk, governmentality and geoinformation
T2 - Vectors of vulnerability in the mapping of COVID-19
AU - Oluoch, Isaac O.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a range of technological as well as legislative measures were introduced to monitor, track and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the world. The measures taken by governments across the world have relied upon the use of geoinformation from satellites, drones, online dashboards and contact tracing apps to render the virus more visible, which has been instrumental in two ways. First, geoinformation has been helpful in organizing efforts for capacity building, in mapping communities living in deprived urban areas (referred to commonly as ‘slums’) and their response to COVID-19 measures. These efforts have been part of initiatives by the United Nations as well as NGOs, using geoinformation to inform urban policymaking by representing the social, political and environmental issues facing those living in deprived urban areas. And secondly, geoinformation has also been used to control the spread of the pandemic by monitoring and limiting the behaviour of citizens through various technologies. This form of geoinformation-driven governmentality, I will contend from critical geography and surveillance studies perspective endangers ethical values such as trust and solidarity, agency, transparency along with the rights and values of citizens.
AB - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a range of technological as well as legislative measures were introduced to monitor, track and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the world. The measures taken by governments across the world have relied upon the use of geoinformation from satellites, drones, online dashboards and contact tracing apps to render the virus more visible, which has been instrumental in two ways. First, geoinformation has been helpful in organizing efforts for capacity building, in mapping communities living in deprived urban areas (referred to commonly as ‘slums’) and their response to COVID-19 measures. These efforts have been part of initiatives by the United Nations as well as NGOs, using geoinformation to inform urban policymaking by representing the social, political and environmental issues facing those living in deprived urban areas. And secondly, geoinformation has also been used to control the spread of the pandemic by monitoring and limiting the behaviour of citizens through various technologies. This form of geoinformation-driven governmentality, I will contend from critical geography and surveillance studies perspective endangers ethical values such as trust and solidarity, agency, transparency along with the rights and values of citizens.
KW - COVID-19
KW - critical geography
KW - ethics
KW - geoinformation
KW - governmentality
KW - surveillance studies
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124526268&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1468-5973.12397
DO - 10.1111/1468-5973.12397
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124526268
SN - 0966-0879
VL - 30
SP - 41
EP - 49
JO - Journal of contingencies and crisis management
JF - Journal of contingencies and crisis management
IS - 1
ER -