Liquefying social capital

Abstract

This article discusses the biopolitical dimension of digital circula- tion in the specific context of refugee relief. Drawing up on observational

fieldwork conducted in Nahr el Bared, one of the largest Palestinian refu- gee camps in North Lebanon, it explores how the digital capture of social

and spatial evidences fundamentally transforms the social capital invested in

local knowledge, gradually eroding critical capacities for community self- governance. Building upon the concept of “data derivatives” developed by

Louise Amore’s, the article focuses in particular on the speculative dimen- sion of data to suggest that the conversion of an embodied memory into

data-based forms provides powerful means for rendering unsanctioned claims of ownership and belonging visible, actionable and effective. At the same time it opens up new modes of “probalistic containment” that restrict

individual and collective life chances under the pretext of democratic par- ticipation and empowerment.