Sophie Bennani-Taylor
sophiebt.bsky.social
Sophie Bennani-Taylor
@sophiebt.bsky.social
digital identification // technology & migration // STS // sociology of tech
Pleased to share my article examining how circulations of data, capital, and discourse shape migrants' im/mobilities through the case of the UK's ASPEN Card – proudly in Ulla Berg, Carolina Sánchez Boe & @dbyler.bsky.social's SI in @survstudiesnet.bsky.social

ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
View of Financial Circuits of Im/mobility: Constraining, Confining, and Coercing Asylum Seekers Through Prepayment Technology
ojs.library.queensu.ca
December 16, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
Pleased to share this paper for BioSocieties on snakebite in Kerala. I explore how social scientific theories of toxicity aid in conceiving of the structural vulnerabilities, diagnostic uncertainty, and multispecies health impacts that characterise snakebite's public health response.
Making sense of snakebite: the place of biological toxins in social scientific analyses of toxicity - BioSocieties
Through an ethnographic study of snakebite governance in Kerala, India, this article argues that social scientific theories of toxicity elucidate the biosocial dimensions of snakebite envenomation (SB...
link.springer.com
August 19, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
Once more for those at the back. Working as an undocumented delivery drive is not a "pull factor". People are not risking their lives crossing the channel to work for Deliveroo.
Doing so is an outcome of the system once people are here.
1/2 #r4today

news.sky.com/story/ban-as...
Ban asylum seekers who work illegally from gaining refugee status, Tories say
The Conservatives say the UK's informal working market is acting as a "pull factor" for small boat crossings in the Channel.
news.sky.com
August 7, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
"Nearly half of white students admitted to Harvard between 2009 and 2014 were legacy students or Dean’s Interest List—a list of applicants whose relatives have donated to Harvard, the existence of which only became public knowledge in 2018"

75% of them would not have been admitted otherwise
July 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
‘Cracking down’ on a system which already makes it almost impossible for disabled people to access financial support

apple.news/Ad-rjWUoHQNe...
All the ways disability benefit rules could be tightened in DWP crackdown — The i Paper
The eligibility rules for PIP and universal credit are set to be tightened
apple.news
March 17, 2025 at 1:25 PM
I'm incredibly pleased to share that I'll be speaking alongside Dr Janaki Srinivasan, whose work I really admire, at this year's Merton Equality Conversation on 'Inclusions and Exclusions in the Data Age'. You can book tickets here if you're in/around Oxford www.merton.ox.ac.uk/event/inclus...
Inclusions and Exclusions in the Data Age
Dr Janaki Srinivasan, Associate Professor in Digital South Asian Studies of Oxford Internet Institute, and Sophie Bennani-Taylor, a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute, will be the speakers...
www.merton.ox.ac.uk
February 17, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
Registration open and Call for Abstracts, Global Southing Internet, Data and AI Studies workshop. University of Oxford, March 25-26. www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/...
OII | Global Southing Internet, Data and AI Studies Workshop
This workshop aims to facilitate dialogues between UK scholars and approaches from the Global South in the field of Internet and Data Studies.
www.oii.ox.ac.uk
January 14, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
“What Israel is doing to Palestinians is not its own domestic problem, nor is it a minor or passing crisis; it is one of the most horrific, ongoing, large-scale human rights abuses of this century (and much of the previous one) The international community should do more”
A view from inside Israel: The closure of the Dublin embassy is a distraction tactic
Israel is a diplomatic bully and never addresses its human rights abuses. Global focus should not be on etiquette but on freedom for Palestine
www.irishtimes.com
December 19, 2024 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
🚨 Desperate for some Xmas reading? CIGI have published my report on "Developing a Framework for Collective Data Rights".

This report aims to get concrete about the kinds of collective rights we might need to address group and societal harms from data and AI.

🧵

www.cigionline.org/publications...
Developing a Framework for Collective Data Rights
Data protection law and policy are founded on the approach of individual notice and consent — an approach with shortcomings in an age of big data and artificial intelligence. This special reports cons...
www.cigionline.org
December 19, 2024 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
"In Kenya, it traumatised 100% of hundreds of former moderators tested for PTSD … In any other industry, if we discovered 100% of safety workers were being diagnosed with an illness caused by their work, the people responsible would be forced to resign..."

www.theguardian.com/media/2024/d...
More than 140 Kenya Facebook moderators diagnosed with severe PTSD
Exclusive: Diagnoses part of lawsuit being brought against parent company Meta and outsourcer Samasource Kenya
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2024 at 4:04 PM
Gurbaksh might also be in Ipswich so if you’re in London or Ipswich please please keep your eyes peeled and reshare if possible 🙏
Long shot, but if anyone happens to have seen my friend Gurbaksh (also goes by Simon) in/around London, or can provide information that can help, please please get in touch.

Would also appreciate if this can be shared more widely.
December 1, 2024 at 2:15 PM
Long shot, but if anyone happens to have seen my friend Gurbaksh (also goes by Simon) in/around London, or can provide information that can help, please please get in touch.

Would also appreciate if this can be shared more widely.
November 27, 2024 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
Data is never ‘collected’, it is only *generated*.

This isn’t merely a pedantic semantic gripe; by misrepresenting ‘data’ as something that exists in nature & has only to be scooped up, evasion of accountability for data harms has already begun

Data doesn’t exist until someone constructs it
November 27, 2024 at 11:11 AM
An (unexpected) perk of doing research in India: your lovely friends and colleagues make you street food your weak stomach couldn’t otherwise handle so you don’t miss out 🥰
November 25, 2024 at 2:04 PM
👋 new followers.

I’m Sophie, a PhD student at the OII looking at government digital ID systems.

I mostly take an STS-based approach to research and run an (online) STS reading group based out of Oxford - please message if you’re interested in joining!
November 25, 2024 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Sophie Bennani-Taylor
NEW: Israeli authorities have caused massive, deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since October 2023 and are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Governments should adopt targeted sanctions and other measures, and halt weapons sales to Israel.
Israel’s Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza
Israeli authorities have caused the massive, deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since October 2023 and are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Ri...
www.hrw.org
November 14, 2024 at 4:18 PM